Ears
by OtakuSkittlezRV
Summary: AU - Somewhere along the lines, Kyoyume's secrets would get found out. Who knew Goshinboku Highschool could be the place? [NarakuOC, AyameKouga, etc.]
1. Default Chapter

Ears By: Skittlez and OtakuSailorV

Kyoyume's eyes glittered a little as she pulled her hood lower and pushed through the crowd, silently.

It was her first day at _another_ new school, and she was more nervous than she had ever been. Of all the schools she had ever been in so far, this one _had_ to be the biggest one yet! So many people! Her eyes spun, and she felt like she might hyperventilate.

She finally got to a remotely empty area and sat down. Finally she could breath.

Watching the passing children from underneath the hood, she wondered if she would get any friends this time around. Grimacing, she remembered what had happened the last time she had tried to get friends at a school. Why did everyone _always_ have to ask her about her hats and hoodies? Making a noise of disgust, she dropped her eyes and pondered where to go to next.

The people here _looked_ weird. Some guys had silver hair, she swore she saw a few people with red eyes. But maybe she was imagining things.

Deciding that she was no more weird than they were, she hoisted up her pack, knowing that sulking alone in a corner would only attract unwanted attention. Biting her bottom lip, Kyoyume made her way through the crowd to her first class.

She got in and sat down in the back. A red headed girl walked up and smiled at her. "Hi! I'm Ayame, are you new?"

Kyoyume retreated into her hoodie slightly, keeping her head bent. "Yes." She replied in a shy tone, though she had meant to sound sterner. Cursing her inability to control her emotions in such situations, she bit her tongue in her anger. "I'm Kyoyume."

Ayame smiled. "Well, I'm glad to see a new face. Most of the people here are pretty boring. Don't let them push you around." She told her, sitting down in the desk in front of her, then she scowled. "Kouga is late, as usual." She grumbled to herself.

Kyoyume lifted her head slightly, her eyes shining from deep inside of the dark hoodie. There was an uncertain look in her eyes, but whatever it was that was bothering her, she did not voice it aloud. "It's nice to meet you too." She said politely. "Thank you for the advice."

Ayame shrugged. "Ah, some of them do like to pick fights. If ya need any help, I'm here." She added with a light laugh.

Kyoyume smiled slightly. "Thank you, but I don't plan on invoking anyone's wrath." She tried to reassure the smiling redhead that she had no intention of taking her up on her offer.

"Oh some just do it for fun. Like. . .Naraku, and the Kotsu kids. They're just immature."

Kyoyume let out a short laugh, she knew what the girl was referring to. She had had enough experience with 'immature' kids. They were the ones that always seemed to cause her trouble, and she stiffened slightly at the news that there were more here. Of course, she had expected there to be some here, but to hear the words from this girl made the anxiety grow inside of her at a steadier rate.

"But most of them, are really nice if you can get on their good sides. Of course there will always just be a few bad kids. No big deal though. Oh. . .here comes the teacher." She groaned. "And Kouga still hasn't shown up, the idiot!"

At this Ayame turned about, and Kyoyume lifted her eye further to take in the teacher. Wondering briefly who this 'Kouga' was that seemed to infuriate Ayame so much.

As soon as the teacher sat down three boys burst in. One was tall, with long black hair tied in a ponytail, the other one had a blond Mohawk and the last one had black-on-gray hair. They rushed to the three empty seats surrounding Ayame. She then took the liberty of swatting ponytail-boy over the head.

"You were late again, fool!" She hissed at him as he growled back at her. "Stop your whining, it didn't hurt that much." She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. The other two boys suppressed laughs at their obvious leader, but immediately stopped when he glared at them.

The teacher finally cleared his throat, muttering loudly about incompetent teenagers. "We can hear you, Mr. Toutou-sai."

The teacher looked up and glared at the class in general, trying to find the speaker. Kyoyume was briefly taken aback by the rudeness of the student to this teacher, but brushed it off. She was in a different school, things were run differently here, she shouldn't be surprised by that anymore.

He then started on a long drawn lecture and was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Hm?" He asked, turning slowly toward the door. Frowning, he went and opened it. "Who's there?" He demanded in a withered tone.

"Sorry, Mr. Toutou-sai," the black haired boy replied. "But the teacher told me to tell you, there's a conference for all the teachers free next block and they can't find Renkotsu...again." He replied sighing.

Mr. Toutou-sai made a noise in the back of his throat that showed her disapproved. "I see. Well, thank you, Miroku." He said dismissively, turning his head upward in thought. "Are they sure they have no idea where Renkotsu-sensei is?" He sounded exasperated and Kyoyume wondered if this happened more often than she had first presumed.

Miroku turned around, smiling a little perversely. "They just don't want to look where they think he is, is all sir."

Toutou-sai rubbed one wrinkled hand in his eyes and sighed in exasperation again. "Very well." Then, leaning closer, her gave Miroku a steely glare. "Don't let me hear you repeat anything like that again, young man." He said before turning away as if nothing had been said between them.

Miroku sighed, walking out. "Bye sir." He added as he walked down the hall. As Toutou-sai shut the door the class erupted into a fit of giggles, but Kyoyume just looked confused.

Ayame and the other boys exchanged glances and whispered under their breath at each other. Kyoyume had never been good at lip-reading, but she could hear very well what they were saying, despite their low voices. What she heard both perplexed and astonished her further. This school truly was different from the others!

Ayame turned to her. "Sorry if you don't really get what's going on. It's a bit of a school-wide joke, why Renkotsu skips out on his classes." She told her. "It's really funny if you hear the whole story." She added.

Kyoyume had never heard of a teacher skipping classes and found herself leaning in with curiosity. Almost too late, she caught her hood as it started to slip away from her face. Hoping no one had seen her abrupt motion, she gave Ayame a curious look. "Why?"

"Some kids, mainly his little brother who goes here says he's having an affair with one of the students. No one's quite sure whether its true or not but its fun to think about." She explained.

Kyoyume blinked and pulled back slowly, taking this piece of gossip in slowly. She had heard of such things but never thought she would attend a school where such things happened. . .Still, there was no assurance that the rumor was actually true, was there? She tried to calm herself with that thought, but still, - she was skeptical.

"Weird huh?" Ayame asked. "Who knows. Maybe you'll have the misfortune of running into Renkotsu. He's a major asshole."

Kyoyume grimaced, turning her head slightly to indicate she wanted no such honor. "I'd rather not."

"Exactly. His brother's...weird." She added. Then Toutou-sai restarted his long-drawn lecture of Politics and other old-man things.

Kyoyume gave a short laugh again and sat silently for the rest of the class, listening intently to the old man, not that she could have easily tuned out from him if she had wanted to.

Finally the class ended. The bell rang and Kyoyume made her way to the next class. The teacher asked for her name and told her to take a seat. She did so without much thought.

Glumly, she stared out the window at the rain that was falling. Her chin was in her hand as she watched it with mild interest, her thoughts roaming elsewhere. As a habit, she kept one hand on the edge of her hoodie cap, fingering the edge thoughtfully.

The class slowly filled up and a black haired girl who looked like she had a permanently bored expression on her face occupied the seat beside Kyoyume.

Kyoyume took little notice of her. She decided that if she didn't want trouble, she might as well fade into the background. Though she liked the girl Ayame, she was still apprehensive of making friends still.

The black-haired girl looked over at her and offered her a small bored smile before turning to the brown haired guy that had just occupied the seat in front of her.

She had smiled back briefly, a form of greeting she had been used to giving now.

As the last of the students piled in the teacher started the class full swing. Same old 'blah, blah'.

Making a face, Kyoyume slid down in her seat. Grumbling inwardly, she wondered how she had ever come to think that the first day of school would be fun.

Suddenly two more students burst in. "Mr. Akimori, Mr. Akanatsu..." the elderly woman warned. "Late. As usual."

The two boys smiled awkwardly at her before taking their seats. Kyoyume's eyes followed them the entire time. _'Are students always late in every class?'_

She continued on with the 'blah' of her lecture before asking the class questions. Expecting answers. Kyoyume prayed she wasn't called on.

She had barely paid attention during the entire lecture, occupying herself with small, idle thoughts.

The teacher, thankfully didn't have time to call on her before the ringing bell interrupted class.

Thanking her lucky stars, Kyoyume left promptly, only slowing her pace when she was a good piece down the hallway.

The steady rumble of voices died down as people found themselves at their classes. She had lunch this class. She briefly wondered what was FOR lunch.

_'Hope it's something edible.'_ She knew for a fact that lunches prepared at the school were sometimes far from edible and other times as close to actual food as it could get. Making a face, she looked over the menu with slight distaste.

She walked into the cafeteria with her hands stuffed in her pockets and her head low. "Hey!" A familiar voice called.

She froze, briefly frightened that she had been found out, and slowly turned, curiously to find the speaker. Her eyes fell on Ayame, the redhead from before, who was smiling and waving at her expectantly. Unconsciously, she raised her own hand to wave a greeting, though she was still bewildered.

She walked over and smiled brightly. "Hey!"

"Hi." Kyoyume said in a small voice. She felt like an idiot, or rather - a robot. She had barely any idea what was to be said in these situations, and felt utterly helpless though she knew the girl meant well.

"Wanna come sit with us?" She asked pointing to a table where her friends were sitting.

Kyoyume hesitated for a moment, fiddling with her hands inside of the pouch on her hoodie. Biting her lower lip again, she nodded her agreement. "S-sure."

Ayame led her over to where she and her friends were sitting. Kyoyume sat down nervously, receiving a smile from two of the boys but just a sharp nod from Kouga.

Kyoyume flashed a weak smile from behind her hood, she felt nervous about this and desperately wanted to go sit somewhere by herself instead. But she wanted friends more than she wanted to leave, and, though she was wary, decided that staying was the best option.

Ayame leaned over. "Don't mind Kouga, he's standoff-ish."

Kyoyume considered this and shook her head to show that she didn't mind. She was one to know that everybody was different, and she calmly accepted everyone she met; though she never liked a decent amount of them. "Oh, that's ok." She replied in a small tone back to Ayame in case she did not understand the meaning of the headshake.

Kouga jumped up to cast a steely glare at the man in black that had just walked by, who stopped and glared back. Kyoyume found him much more intimidating than Kouga; his eyes were ice cold. "Kouga sit down!" Ayame urged.

Kyoyume looked from Ayame to Kouga with a blank look, though her eyes held some quizzical question. She was hoping for an explanation, and was slightly afraid to turn toward the black-clothed man for the answer.

The man in black turned on a heel and walked away, the floor sweeping trench coat swishing behind him as Kouga emitted a growl and sat down.

Kyoyume calmed herself. "Who was that?" She asked as she saw the glares that Kouga and his two other friends were sending toward the retreating figure.

"Renkotsu." Ayame said shortly.

Kyoyume nodded, remembering the teacher's name from before. But the man didn't look like a teacher at all! Confused and utterly lost in the strange goings-on at the school, she sufficed a nod for Ayame. "I see."

"He's young. He's smart. He's kinda good-looking. But he's an asshole." Ayame told her. "And he hates everyone."

Kyoyume smirked to herself secretly, inwardly knowing what it was like to hate everyone. Or at least to claim to 'hate' everyone. She wasn't sure if she could ever truly hate every being she ever came across, but she definitely disliked a lot of people. "He has the look." She nodded knowingly.

"The look of what? A psycho killer? Yes he does." Kouga growled. "But I have a trophy from my last fight with him." He added gloatingly.

Kyoyume raised her eyebrows. Fighting a teacher? "A. . .prize. . . ?" She asked slowly, not totally comprehending his words.

"It was outside of school." He added quickly, reaching into his back pocket and pulling something out of his wallet and holding it up. "A ring."

Kyoyume studied it with wide eyes. ". . ." Blinking, she realized that it was an earring of some sort.

Ayame grimaced as Kouga continued. "I scratched him across the chest and my finger got caught on something, so I pulled."

Both girls winced and her smirked wider, enjoying the tale even more when his audience reacted this way. Kyoyume made a face, wrinkling her nose at the ring that Kouga was so proud of. "That's horrible." She said softly.

He shoved it in his back pocket. "Yeah I know."

Kyoyume grimaced at the self-pleased and casual tone with which he spoke. No wonder Ayame smacked him around so much! Someone needed to set him straight every once in a while!

"He deserved it though, right Ayame?" He asked, Ayame nodded in the positive.

The other two boys nodded in agreement as well, saying small things about Renkotsu and the fight in-between vigorous nods. Kyoyume felt strange again and backed away from the subject.

Ayame looked at her. "He thinks Renkotsu deserved it because Renkotsu gave him a good smack to the head. Someone had to though. I just plat along." She whispered.

Kyoyume smiled and nodded, showing that she understood what her new 'friend' was saying. Though she was still troubled inwardly with other thoughts.

"Oh Jesus he's NOT coming this way...." She muttered as Kouga jumped up again and glared at the brown haired man walking by. The man stopped and in a second pinned Kouga to the wall. "Naraku." She snapped loudly.

Kyoyume blinked in shock and almost instantly her heart sped up with fear. Here she was on her first day at a new school and already something bad was happening and to one of her 'friends' no less! Quite alarmed, she couldn't fully register the situation right away and sat frozen in place on her seat.

The brown haired man smirked devilishly. "Kouga I thought I told you your place was on the ground, at my feet when I walked by you." He replied, his deep voice silky. "You never learn." He added tossing the black haired boy down and walking away.

Kyoyume's mouth opened in shock at his force. Kouga only seemed briefly fazed by it though, for he growled deeply at Naraku, his eyes narrowed in aggression.

Naraku turned and looked at Kyoyume for a second before giving her a smile and walking away.

Kyoyume felt her face light up with indignation. Anger flooded her at his impudence, but she knew she could do nothing or she would risk exposing herself. Pushing down her rage, she turned toward Kouga and the others again sharply, frowning to herself.

"Naraku Shirozaru. Truest bastard of the Earth."

"More so than Renkotsu-sensei?" Kyoyume replied with a hidden smirk, though she was worried if Kouga was hurt at all by the ruffian.

Kouga straightened up. "Everyone thinks Naraku's the puppet-master of this fight club that's run at night. It's really Renkotsu. Renkotsu is a level all his own. Naraku's just a manipulative idiot."

Kyoyume's eyes narrowed as he followed his form through the crowds of people, though she soon lost sight of him. "I see." She commented dryly. Turning back to Kouga, she raised her eyebrows. "Are you ok?"

"Happens tons, doesn't hurt a bit!"

She nodded, though her eyes were soft with worry. Her eyes flickered to Ayame who seemed to hold the same worry, though she was masking it quite well. The girl gave Kouga a hardy thump on the back. "Yeah, he's like a runaway train." She said admonishingly.

The lunch bell rang and the students occupying the cafeteria flooded out to their next classes.

Kyoyume waved goodbye to the others before heading off for her next class. Consulting her planner first, she decided which way was the fastest to her next bell.

She got there 5 seconds before the ball rang and, who would be in there but that Naraku character! She found an empty seat and took it. But the teacher began rearranging seats the second the bell rang.

Praying that she would not have to sit anywhere near him, she obediantly got up as the teacher asked of the rest of the class, and stood in front as she assigned the seats.

"Kyoyume...sit by Shirozaru..." the woman trailed off giving her a clear 'sorry I had to' look, gesturing to the seat beside Naraku.

Kyoyume's mind screamed, but she did not hesitate in taking her seat. She wouldn't want him to get the impression she was scared of him, and maybe, just maybe if she ignored him, he would leave her alone. Sitting down, she felt her chest cave in on itself about as far as her breast plate would allow it to in anxiety.

Naraku looked at her. "Hi." He said briefly before returning to what he was drawing.

Kyoyume nodded a silent greeting, pretending she was preoccupied as well as she rummaged through her backpack for pen and paper.

"You're new here?"

Kyoyume's eyes moved sideways to look at him, her head turning slightly to peer at him from both eyes. "Yes, I am." She replied.

"Oh, well just remember I run this place." He muttered. "And tred carefully."

Kyoyume's eyes narrowed in outrage. "Tch. Whatever." She replied gruffly, turning back away from him sharply.

"Well, just being honest, I'm not one to attack women but some of my guys will. Sorry."

Kyoyume's throat tightened. She felt like throttling the guy now, but risking anymore would only make things worse for herself later on. Rolling her eyes, she settled her books down and in the meantime tried to calm herself as well. It wouldn't do for her to fight now, or to risk showing herself. Fuming, she settled back against her chair.

"So your names Kyoyume?" He asked, still focusing on his drawing.

"I am Kyoyume." She responded shortly.

"Naraku. And don't think much of anything you hear about me. Its rarely true." He said, finishing the drawing. "Some people just bother me, so I use their idiocy to my advantage."

"Don't worry. It's not like it'll matter in the long run. I probably won't be here long anyway." Kyoyume shrugged it off.

"Move a lot?"

Kyoyume moved that around in her mind. "You could put it that way." She said after a brief pause. Hoping he let it rest, she felt herself frowning as she tried to figure out an explanation for it all.

"Oh. Uhm...you drive?"

"No."

"Need a ride home today? It's gonna be raining."

Kyoyume fidgeted, frowning deeper. "No, thank you. I'll be fine."

He shrugged. "Okay."

Kyoyume let the conversation drop. She certainly didn't want his attention, but she was hesitant about being overly rude as well.

He doodled a little on the paper he had drawn on and handed it to her with a cocky smirk. "Keep it. You might need me one day." He told her, turning around.

Kyoyume flushed bright red with anger at his words. Taking the paper in her hands, she studied it thoroughly.

His number was drawn on it neatly, with a very well drawn picture of what looked like a small family. He was in it too, a long with some other people she hadn't seen before. She looked at him, but he was still gazing elsewhere.

Gritting her teeth, a muscle in her jaw twitched before she crumbled it and stowed it in her bag roughly. _'How dare he!'_ She thought indignantly.

The final bell rang, it was time to leave. This felt like a short day for Kyoyume, though it felt a bit longer. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Naraku. "You dropped this." He said, handing her a piece of paper that had, in fact, fallen out of her notebook.

She took it and nodded her agreement. "Thank you." She said before turning to go again.

He disappeared in the crowd but she saw him, looking like he was waiting for someone, outside of the building.

Flushed still from anger toward him, she turned her eyes elsewhere, trying to concentrate on finding her way home instead of worrying about someone like him.

Someone bumped into her; he looked up and gave a short apology before hurrying over to Naraku. They didn't look much a like but the smug smirk the boy was wearing was a dead give away. They were definitely related.

She recognized him immediately as one of the people from Naraku's sketch. Making a face, she turned her eyes away again. She really shouldn't be watching, but she couldn't help but wonder about him

A few other kids crowded around Naraku as he stood up and started away, them following him.

Kyoyume turned her head skyward as a few droplets fell on her hands and face. Licking her lips thoughtfully, she turned toward her own home and headed out, pulling her hood instinctively farther over her head.

She got home and flopped down on her couch, finally pulling the hood off her head.

Sighing, she revealed the two fluffy, large black cat ears that stuck up straight from her head from her electric blue hair. Ruffling her hair and ears with one hand, she tried to straight them out. They felt stiff from being stuck underneath her hood all day.

She turned on the TV and flipped the channels for a few minutes.

On top of her head, her ears twitched in the direction of every sound. Finding that nothing interested her on the TV, she flicked it off with another sigh and got up off of the couch.

She sighed. Wondering, maybe she should call Naraku, just for the hell of it...not that using a phone was ever very easy.

Kyoyume shook her head, her ears flapping on her head wildly as they caught the wind. Making a face, she went into her room at the end of the hallway and flopped down on her bed. Grumbling to herself, she tried to dismiss any more thoughts of the boy from earlier. He had hurt one of her friends, how could she even _think_ about calling him?

Suddenly there was a thumping noise. Sounded like from a car stereo system. "New neighbors I guess!" She heard someone yell.

Kyoyume felt her head throb at the sound of the stereo. Her ears perked toward the sound before shying away from its level of noise. Grimacing, she sat up on her bed, hoping that whoever was yelling would cut it out and leave her alone.

The music cut off abruptly and the people retreated into their house. Thankfully.

Sighing in relief, Kyoyume moved her hands from her ears and flopped back down on the bed.

She briefly wondered who her neighbors were exactly. But she wasn't exactly eager to find out.

Rolling over onto her stomach, she scratched irritably behind one of her large cat ears and sighed again. She knew they would someday have to meet, but she hoped that she wouldn't be alone when that time came. She was nervous around large groups of new people she had never met before, always frightened of her secret coming out.

"I'm bored." She muttered to herself, ruffling her bangs impatiently.

Making a face again, she decided she might as well get on her homework if she had nothing better to do.

She didn't have much homework though. Something for first period, that was about it.

Kyoyume pulled the books and paper forth from her backpack and started on it, gradually getting it done, her mind wandering to other, small things every now and then.

She decided maybe some music would be good. She flipped on her stereo and immediately _'Saturday'_ by Fall Out Boy started playing. That was good, she liked this song.

It did the charm, and by the time the song had finished, she was done with the homework. Setting the stuff aside, she watched it for a moment, contemplating what to do now.

Maybe she could do with some fresh air. So she got up, pulled her hood back over her ears and walked outside, blinking as the rain fell on her nose.

Closing her eyes briefly, she relished the quiet sound of the rain and it's calming effects on her. Pulling her hood lower over her eyes, she tried to find a nice quiet spot to sit where she wouldn't get too wet from the light sprinkle.

She didn't realize where she was going and she walked into something solid. "Ow!" The girl shrieked.

Kyoyume stumbled backward, half-afraid that the girl had shreiked because her ears were exposed. Startled, she looked up to see that the 'girl' was no girl at all, but a rather feminine man. "I-I'm sorry." She spluttered out.

The boy straightened his pink shirt and dusted himself off. "My fault. Just a bit angry."

Kyoyume flushed with embarrassment. ". . ."

"Not at you, my brother was being a jackass. You must be that new girl at school. Hi, I'm Jakotsu." He introduced.

Kyoyume shook his hand awkwardly. "I-I'm Kyoyume. It's nice to meet you."

"I saw you hanging out with Ayame and them today. In the cafeteria when Kouga was about to pick a fight with my brother. Do you usually freak out that much?"

Kyoyume tensed, flushing with embarrassment again. "Uhm, well, no. . .I've just never had friends that. . .fought before. . ." To tell the truth, she had had very few friends at all, so it was a mere half-truth.

"Oh, yeah it is a bit of a culture shock isn't it? This is a pretty violent town. You get in leagues with the strong ones you stay safer."

"Oh, thanks for the advice, but I don't think I'll be around long." Though she was hoping against hope that she would be able to at least stay around for a year at least this time.

"Hahaha, I kinda wish I could move but I gotta stay. My bro's my only living relative."

"That must be horrible." Kyoyume muttered.

"Nah. He's an asshole yes, but he's a smart guy."

"Well, at least you have someone then." Kyoyume smiled slightly.

Jakotsu shrugged. "I've got plenty. You always have more than you think."

She smiled wider. "That's good."

Jakotsu wrinkled his nose. "Sometimes."

Kyoyume shrugged. "Well, it was nice meeting you." She said vacantly, wondering where she should go with the conversation from here.

"Yeah, maybe I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

Kyoyume smiled and nodded. "Of course."

Jakotsu walked toward the house next to Kyoyume's and walked inside with one parting wave.

Kyoyume waved back and noted that he was one of her new neighbors. Sighing, she pulled her hood lower over her eyes. "Well, another new friend." She mumbled inaudibly.

She decided to go back inside when the rain didn't cease. And she found herself, bored to death and hungry.

Going to her kitchen, Kyoyume browsed over what ther was to eat and finally just picked out a can of soup, opened it, and heated it in the microwave before digging in. Sighing contentment, she watched the rain outside, her ears released from under the hood as she dined on her warm food.

She stopped and looked thoughtful for a second. "This is a weird town." She noted as she ate another spoonful of soup.

She smiled to herself though. "Never been in a place like this before. Should be interesting while I'm here." She mused.

She finished her meal and decided a shower would be good. Really good after a tough first day.

Kyoyume gathered what she needed, her ears twitching at the thought of water on them. Humming a tune, she turned the water on hot and waited for it to heat up.

Once it did she pulled off her clothes and stepped in. It was comfortably hot and her ears twitched, almost contently as the water streamed down on them.

Tossing her head, she dislodged a shower of water droplets from her ears and hair. She washed up slowly, taking her time to relax before she stepped back out, making sure that her ears were completely dry. If they dried still wet, they would smell like wet cat and she definitely didn't need to go to school with that smell lingering on top of her head.

The first time that happened someone asked her if a cat had been sleeping on her head. It wasn't a pleasant smell.

Making a face, she was pretty sure she had gotten every bead of water from her hair around her ears, and her ears themselves. Convinced, she went and got dressed in a different outfit, covering her ears with a cap. "Maybe I'll wear a cap tomorrow. . .I don't think anyone will mind my blue hair. . .I hope. . ."

"Lots of people have weird hair colors." She muttered.

Smiling, she fingered some of her hair thoughtfully. Dyes had never worked on it, and neither had any bleaches. She simply could not get her hair to change color. no more than she could make her ears disappear. Though she was happy that here it would at least be accepted.

"That Jakotsu boy wore lipstick, I don't think they'll mind my blue hair." She convinced herself.

Fingering the brim of her hat, she nodded in affirmation. "Ok, tomorrow I wear a hat then." Studying herself in the mirror, she made sure that there were no lumps were her ears were. Making a face, she noticed that there were small ones, but it would not be noticed unless someone was looking seriously at the top of her head. And what would they do that for unless they suspected her of having ears?

She yawned to herself and finally decided to go to sleep. She simply flopped down on her bed and fell right to sleep.

End Chapter


	2. Chapter Two

Ears By: Skittlez and OtakuSailorV

Chapter Two 

Ayame wasn't at school the next day. None of her new friends were at school. She didn't get why; maybe they all caught the flu. Needless to say the lack of people to talk to bored Kyoyume to death.

She had wanted Ayame at least to be present when she was wearing a hat for the first time in months. Frowning, she tugged on the brim of the hat thoughtfully. _'Hope she'll be back tomorrow.'_ She thought wistfully.

Lunch was something she wasn't looking forward to. She sat alone until a familiar smiling face greeted her, along with 2 people she didn't recognize. "Hi." Jakotsu greeted, his voice was a bit duller than it had been when they had met earlier. The two braided boys beside him gave her small smirks.

Kyoyume raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Hello." She replied, looking from one smirking boy to the next in question.

One was smaller, a tad stockier with blue eyes that glittered deviously. The other was taller and leaner with dark red eyes. "Hi." They chorused.

Kyoyume raised her hand in greeting. "Hey." She said brightly, smiling at them, though she was slightly nervous. "I'm Kyoyume, and you are?"

"I'm Bankotsu." The blue eyed one greeted. "And this is Hiten." He added.

Kyoyume continued to smile. "It's nice to meet you."

They nodded a bit and Hiten made a face. "Did I hear you and Renkotsu screaming again last night Ja?" He asked boredly. "I coulda sworn I did."

Jakotsu frowned, sitting down across from Kyoyume. "Yeah, we fought again." He shrugged. "He's just an asshole."

"You say that every night you guys fight. Which is every night practically." Bankotsu pointed out.

Jakotsu shrugged again. "Well, it's the truth." He grumbled.

"I know Jakotsu, I'd let you move in with me but my parents are a little less-than-accepting."

Jakotsu sighed. "Nah, it's ok. He can be a jerk, but he's tolerable most times."

Kyoyume looked on a little curiously.

Jakotsu took the chance to change the subject immediately. "Hope you don't mind that we sit here." He said, though they had practically already taken over.

"Oh, no, I was kinda lonely anyway." She muttered.

Bankotsu grinned at her. "Don't act so shy." He said cheerily, though he knew it must be overwhelming for the girl since she was new and all. It was only her second day at this school and from her earlier reactions to things, he was sure she had never been to a place like this before.

She smiled at him. "I'm naturally shy and this is a weird school." She noted laughing a little.

"Still, just act like yourself. Everyone else does and no one really cares." Bankotsu urged, still smiling helpfully.

"Oh, I'd never act any other way!" Kyoyume laughed.

"That's good." They giggled in unison.

A girl walked coolly by the table and stopped to smirk at Bankotsu and Jakotsu evilly before walking away again. "Gr...Tsubaki." Bankotsu growled.

Kyoyume felt her ears try to perk under her cap, but they, fortunately were unnoticed by the others around her. Cocking her head to one side, she watched the rather sleazy woman leave. "Who is 'Tsubaki?'"

"My brother's...uhm...ex-girlfriend/prostitute person?" Jakotsu said, struggling for the right words.

"Oh." Kyoyume said vacantly, bringing her eyes away from the woman as she disappeared among the crowd. "She kinda looks it."

"She is."

"She's a real bitch too." Hiten spoke up for the first time, his red eyes shining with distaste.

"Aren't all Renkotsu's girlfriends?" Jakotsu asked him, throwing his plastic spoon at said taller man as he walked by.

Renkotsu easily knocked it aside, carelessly throwing a glare at his younger brother as he passed.

Jakotsu stuck his tongue out at him.

Renkotsu just rolled his eyes before he disappeared into the crowd, not wanting to give Jakotsu the benefit of irking him on such small infractions.

Jakotsu giggled. "I try not to make him blow up in public." He noted. "It's not fun getting beat up in front of people I don't know."

Kyoyume remembered one of the rare occasions she had been discovered in public, and the many foreign eyes that had scrutinized her like she was an animal in a cage. "I know what that's like. . .kinda." She sympathized, smiling despite the grim feelings that came with the memory.

"Yeah...it sucks." Jakotsu agreed.

"But at least you can always be rescued by the police, ne?" Kyoyume joked.

"Hah, not from my legal guardian that can lie himself out of anything."

Kyoyume giggled nervously. "Well, that's the pits then."

"Hah, not when I have a perfectly capable boyfriend to save me."

She laughed again, noticing that the bell was about to ring. Frowning, she wished she could have spent more time with her new friends, but there was no arguing with time.

"See ya around ok?" Jakotsu told her, standing up.

Kyoyume nodded. "See ya." She called before she disappeared among the crowd.

She got to her last class of the day, sat down and remembered Naraku was in the class with her. She groaned at the idea.

_'Just perfect.'_ She thought, hoping that he would fail to mention her hat or hair.

He walked in just before the bell and sat down. "Nice hair." He noted. "So, how are you?"

Kyoyume frowned inwardly, noting that he indeed had mentioned her hair and that he seemed intent on striking up a conversation with her. "Fine."

"That's good. I noticed Kouga and his friends weren't here today. Know why?"

Kyoyume turned toward him slowly, one eyebrow raised. For some reason, she feared the worse if such news was coming from his lips. And he seemed rather excited about telling her. "?"

"I was just wondering. Really I don't know, I think Kagura might know though..." he noted. "But, I saw you hanging about with Bankotsu and Hiten, so you've met them right?"

Kyoyume nodded. "Yes."

"They're good guys. Not my favorite people."

_'I'll bet.'_ She thought. "O...k...." She said slowly, shaking her head to show that she didn't understand what he was getting at.

He smiled. "Friendly conversation, Miss."

She shrugged. "Fine by me."

"Hm..."

Kyoyume turned back away, considering the conversation finished since he had no more to say to her.

"You doing anything after school?" He asked boredly, beginning to sketch again.

Kyoyume was taken aback by the question, but answered in a level tone nonetheless. "Not really."

"Wanna go get coffee?"

Kyoyume didn't know how to tell him no. "Uhm. . .well. . ."

He laughed. "No big deal."

Kyoyume felt like a heel, though she knew it was probably dangerous for her to go anywhere with him. "I just don't know."

"Okay, whatever."

Kyoyume turned back away, for class had just begun, and the teacher was commanding their attention in a harsh tone.

After some blurry shapes drawn on the board and dull talking class was over.

Kyoyume sighed to herself, gathering her things and making her way slowly to the door.

Naraku was again sitting where he had been yesterday, but there wasn't a crowd around him today. Kyoyume briefly wondered why but shook it off

A sudden shock of remorse hit her. Maybe she should have agreed to go with him after all. But she quickly shook it off, giving her mental self a good hit over the back of the head. _'How can you think that?! He hurt Kouga, he doesn't like any of your friends for the fact that they are **nice**, and he mentioned something about his goons hurting you!! Fool!'_ Kyoyume gave herself another mental swipe for good measure, hoping that she had terminated any more thoughts of him for at least the rest of the day.

She started walking, and just like that _smack_ into a wall. "Are you okay?" Someone asked, seriously but with no worry.

Kyoyume shook her head, reminding herself to never stand by walls thinking ever again as she straightened herself out. "Uh, yeah, thanks." She mumbled, wondering how she had missed the rather wide brick building.

Naraku bent down. "You uh...dropped your hat."

Kyoyume rubbed her head, taking the hat from his hands. "Thanks." She mumbled again when suddenly it dawned on her what she had in her hands. Eyes wide, her hands reflexively and quite quickly moved to her head to cover her exposed ears. But it was too late; they had already flagged out on top of her head when they had been freed from under her hat. A sinking feeling hit her gut hard. It was only her second day!!

Naraku furrowed his brows. "Walk with me."

Kyoyume numbly shook her head at him, her lips parted but no sound coming out due to utter shock. Who had seen? She put her hat back on, making sure not to crumple her ears that had been hidden underneath her hands.

"No one saw but me. Now I wanna talk to ya. Just walk, I'm alone, you're alone. Nothing's gonna come of it."

Kyoyume felt her eyes narrowing, but she had no idea what emotion was shining in them as she frowned. Great, so he was the only one who saw.

"I won't tell." He insisted. "If. . ."

Kyoyume was instantly on her feet. Despite her cowardly fears, she had never liked being pushed around at any point. "'If' what?" She demanded in a tight tone, aware that her face was red from too many mixed emotions.

"Well, if you don't annoy me. I mean, stay on my good side." He replied smirking. "Lets be friends." He added in a slightly sarcastic tone.

Kyoyume felt her fists shaking in indignation, gritting her teeth against her raging anger. How dare he!! "Never." She proclaimed angrily.

"Then I'll just have to tell everyone your little secret." He taunted softly.

Her face went red again with her inner turmoil. She knew that she had no choice, she wanted to keep her friends here, but she definitely didn't want to give in to his blackmail! Fighting with herself, she felt her muscles tightening so much she was sure that one of them would cramp up in no time. ". . ."

He smiled a little. "I mean, I'm not holding anything big over your head. Not like other people."

"Other. . .people. . . ?" She questioned slowly, not sure what he meant by that.

"A few other people doing really, really bad things."

Kyoyume narrowed her eyes at his smirking face. She still did not like this at all. But she truly did not see any other way out of it besides changing schools again - maybe a new country - and she refused to accept that as the only way. Swallowing, she sighed submissively.

He sighed. "You're the last person I woulda wanted to do this to, new kid."

"Then don't." She snapped, overlooking the 'last person' comment in her edgy anger. "And my name's Kyoyume."

"I like that. Well, that's the thing. It's just what I do."

Kyoyume frowned, turning her eyes away. It was no use arguing anymore. He had his mind set, and had proclaimed that it was just his way to do things, and she certainly couldn't force him to change for her. There was nothing between them that she could demand such a thing, though she doubted he would have stopped if anybody asked him to. "Fine." She said, her mind screaming as the word formed on her lips.

He smiled. "Trust me. There are worse. Now...how about coffee?"

Trust? How could she trust him when he was blackmailing her? Fuming inwardly, she nodded her head slowly. "Fine." She repeated.

He walked into a quaint little coffeehouse, she followed. "What do you want?" He asked her quietly.

Kyoyume looked over what was to be had dully. "Coffee with mocha." She replied in an equally soft tone, though hers lacked spirit behind it.

He ordered and led her over to a booth in the corner. "The people in this town are nosy as fuck."

She smiled faintly. "Tell me about it." She grumbled, mostly to herself.

"Not me, surprisingly, I find things out by accident and use it to my advantage."

Kyoyume wanted to roll her eyes at that comment. _'Yeah, accident.'_ She thought bitterly. "Mm. . ." She replied, finding that nothing else really fit into what he was saying.

He shrugged. "Okay, I'm nosy I admit it."

_'Well, at least he's **admitting** it.'_ Kyoyume watched him, trying to act like she was interested. "Ok."

"Bah, I know everything about everybody at our school. Trust me on that one." He laughed.

"Hm." She said thoughtfully. "That must be. . .convenient."

"Yeah. It is."

Kyoyume decided that she definitely, definitely did not like that smirk of his at that moment. Though she kept that thought to herself.

"No wonder everyone hates me."

She again felt the pang of sympathy, but this time artfully dodged around it as soon as it sprang up. She refused to feel any form of pity toward him, especially now. And if he expected her to comment on that. . .She dropped the threatening ideas, knowing that they were useless.

"You move a lot?"

Kyoyume shifted uneasily. "Yeah."

"That must suck. I've lived here all my life."

She shrugged. "You get used to it."

"I wouldn't, too many siblings to move at one time."

_'Oh, so those guys were his family then?'_ She pondered, but did not ask. "I see."

"Yeah. . .they're. . .weird."

Kyoyume smiled faintly again, though she wasn't sure what kind of smile it came out to be as it crossed her lips briefly. "I see." She replied again, not sure what else she should say.

"Are you an only child?"

She nodded affirmatively. "Yup."

"You're unlucky. Siblings are the best."

"I guess." She shrugged indifferently. She had never put much thought into if she wanted siblings or not.

"Maybe you'll meet mine one day." He added.

She didn't like that idea, especially if they were anything like him. "Maybe. . ."

"I have four. . .all very different. Only one's anything like me." He replied, as if reading her mind. Then a waitress walked up and handed them their orders, finally.

"Mmm. . ." Kyoyume nodded as she sipped at her drink. She could believe that, possibly.

"It's good isn't it?"

She nodded again, putting her glass down. "Yes."

"That's odd." Naraku noted, looking at his watch then at the door.

Kyoyume tilted her head to one side curiously, following his gaze. "What?"

"Jakotsu and Bankotsu usually come in about now and talk to me. But they aren't here yet."

Kyoyume's teeth clenched slightly, a muscle in her jaw moving as she heard their names. What would they do if they saw her here? "Oh." She said dismissively, trying to act as if her other thoughts were not disturbing her.

"Oh dear, the fabulous four." He snorted as Jakotsu, Bankotsu, Renkotsu and a brown haired man approached the table.

Kyoyume felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as they came. She knew she had no excuse for why she was present, and she was slightly frightened by Renkotsu.

"Hi." Jakotsu and Bankotsu greeted her, sitting beside her.

Kyoyume gave them a soft, genuine smile in return. "Hello." She replied.

They didn't ask questions. "So..." Jakotsu started. "What's up?"

Kyoyume was glad they had not asked and sipped a little bit more at her drink, though she had long ago quenched her thirst.

"Oh, that's Suikotsu, and that's my brother..." he told her, pointing each of them out.

Kyoyume nodded and smiled, though Renkotsu only gave her a cold look. "Hello." She greeted the man called Suikotsu.

He smiled back with a nod. "Hey, Naraku, you think Kouga and Inuyasha got into another fight, and got each other hurt or somethin'?" Bankotsu asked him.

Naraku shrugged, sipping his drink. "Probably. Idiots."

Renkotsu laughed. "Better than Kouga picking a fight with me. . .again, and gettin' himself killed."

Kyoyume watched them all intently, her head cocked to one side a little as she listened, though it was harder with her ears masked like they were. No one challenged Renkotsu's threat, but could somehow tell that several of them were doubtful as to Kouga's death by the man's hands.

"You know Kouga's waaaay too fast for you to actually kill him, Renkotsu." Naraku spoke after a minute.

Renkotsu narrowed his eyes and sat back in his seat. "Tch, maybe. But he's still no match for me."

"Right, he just runs his mouth."

Renkotsu smirked to himself. "Inuyasha has got the same damn problem." Bankotsu said.

"Sesshoumaru's the one ya gotta watch out for, right Jakotsu?" Naraku laughed, though his eyes were shining with distaste.

Jakotsu frowned at him. "Shut up." He grumbled.

"Don't you still have the scars?" Renkotsu asked him mockingly.

Jakotsu swung a fist angrily at his head. "Shut up!" He repeated tersely.

Kyoyume giggled at their actions, it was childish.

Everyone turned her way at the sound of her laughter. "?"

"I dunno." She replied grinning. "You act like 4 year olds, maybe?"

Jakotsu and Bankotsu wrinkled their noses, Renkotsu turned away, and Suikotsu smiled his agreement. Naraku, however, stayed impassive, his red eyes shining slightly.

Kyoyume gave a little shrug and rolled her eyes. "You guys are so sensitive."

Suikotsu glanced her way again, amusement in his eyes. 'Ignore them, they always act that way.' He mouthed to her.

A phone rang and Naraku hurried to answer it. "Hullo? Hakudoushi? ...You...did what?" He asked, his voice turning sour in a second. "Why exactly?" He nodded. "I see...I'll be home in a little while, try cleaning up."

Kyoyume was relieved that she would be allowed to go soon. Well, at least she assumed so. She watched intently, wondering if this 'Hakudoushi' was the one that was the most like Naraku.

_'Well, that answers my question.'_ Kyoyume thought, continuing to sip on her drink contentedly.

"What did he do this time Naraku?" Jakotsu asked giggling.

Naraku continued to grumble angrily to himself. "Nothing, stupid brat is just causing trouble and breaking shit again."

"God, why couldn't he be like Kanna? Instead of you!" Bankotsu laughed.

Naraku rolled his eyes, as if he had been wondering the same thing at that moment. "Yeah, yeah." He grumbled, shooting a glance at Bankotsu. "I gotta get going before he hurts himself, or worse, somebody else."

"If he hurts himself again, can we baby-sit him? He's a little dear." Jakotsu asked.

Naraku raised his eyebrows, but asked no questions. "Yeah, sure, whatever."

"Ya just gotta let him stay outside in the barn with Entei and bring him sweets." He replied.

"You may do that, but with me it just spoils the little psycho." Naraku informed him. "Besides, he wouldn't take candy from me, he'd be afraid I'd poisoned it."

"Well, that's you."

Naraku chuckled before he went to the door. "Bye." He called.

"Bye." Jakotsu and Bankotsu called back.

Kyoyume didn't bother, she was still angry with him over blackmailing her, and she didn't intend to be happy with him any time soon.

Jakotsu sighed. "Blah, poor Naraku."

Kyoyume sighed, ready to leave if Jakotsu and Bankotsu were going to leave as well. But what did they mean by 'poor _Naraku_?'

"He gets more shit from Hakudoushi than anyone else put together. Must be stressful."

Kyoyume watched as Naraku disappeared from sight, and pushed away sympathy, leaving only curious thoughts behind in its wake.

"Though sometimes Naraku deserves every bit of it." Renkotsu informed his brother, who nodded.

**_'Sometimes.'_** She thought harshly, still keeping to herself.

"What do you think, Kyoyume?"

Kyoyume frowned, not wanting to be confronted about it. She shrugged thoughtfully, wondering how she should word it. "I dunno. . .it's kinda early for me to be very judgmental." She said slowly, thinking it over herself. It indeed _was_ too early, but still she could not hold her icy thoughts toward him.

"It's never too early with Naraku." Renkotsu muttered under his breath.

Kyoyume briefly wondered if she should have come right out and said what she thought, it was always easier being truthful about things. Yet she could not bring herself to say such harsh things in front of them.

"Wanna walk with us?" Bankotsu asked as he stood up. "It's usually pretty eventful."

She shrugged, standing as well. "Sure, why not?"

"Okay." He replied and they started walking.

Kyoyume dumped her drink, making sure to leave a tip for the waitress before following them out the door. She followed quietly; hoping that her hat would stay mounted on her head for the rest of the day.

They walked along, and someone's cell phone rang. Renkotsu answered. "Hello?" He answered dully. "Uh-huh...okay...what's up?" He asked. "What?" He asked, a smirk forming. "Oh really? Be over in 20 then." He replied, hanging up.

"Who was that?" Jakotsu chided him.

"My girlfriend." Renkotsu replied shortly.

Jakotsu and Bankotsu exchanged glances and burst into laughs, though they half-tried to conceal them. "Oh, really? Who is it this time?"

"None of _your_ business, vermin."

Jakotsu and Bankotsu exchanged glances again before bursting into laughter, this time they didn't even bother to hide it.

"What? It isn't your business, idiot." He snapped, thumping Jakotsu. "Besides. You wouldn't know her."

Jakotsu rubbed his sore head, rolling his eyes at his older brother. "I'll bet I would." He replied, giving Renkotsu a return punch to the arm.

"Hahaha, you barely know anyone YOUR age."

Jakotsu pouted, glaring at him. "And I'll bet you know more than I do?"

He smirked. "That's for me to know."

Jakotsu rolled his eyes again. "Fine, whatever." He growled. "Now don't you have to get going? If you're not punctual she'll be angry." He teased.

"She does have a temper. But who cares? She knows I take my time."

"Then why give her a time when you'll be over? Why not tell her: 'Yeah, I think I'll walk as slow as possible since you mean _so_ much to me.' Or something like that?" Jakotsu questioned, knowing that he was irking his brother further.

"Hahaha, I wouldn't say that. She's not that important. I'll be gone all night too so it'll make up for it if I'm a little late."

"Must be Tsubaki." Jakotsu whispered to Bankotsu before replying to his brother. He wrinkled his nose. "Ew, I don't think I needed to hear that."

"It's not Tsubaki!" Renkotsu snapped.

Jakotsu jumped to attention. _'Sharp ears. Probably as good as mine.'_ Kyoyume noted to herself. "Then if she's not important and she's not Tsubaki, who the hell is she?"

"A girl I met."

"A girl you met? Like, just a little while ago?"

"A few weeks ago."

"Uh-huh. . ." Jakotsu replied, waiting for more details. Bankotsu seemed just as eager, though he was smiling brightly. Suikotsu was as quiet as Kyoyume, both of them exchanging glances every once in a while.

"What? I explained this Jakotsu, you don't know her and its none of your business."

"I don't care! I wanna know anyway! I'm _concerned_ about you!!"

"Concerned?!"

Jakotsu laughed, seeing as Renkotsu had not picked up his sarcasm. "Oh, of _course_ my dear brother. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Faggot." he growled.

Jakotsu acted as if he had been struck before swinging a fist into Renkotsu. "Don't call me that you asshole!"

"It's true!" He retorted.

"Just like you being an asshole is true!" Jakotsu replied in the same fashion.

"I know, I'm proud of it!"

Jakotsu rolled his eyes. "That's not something to be proud of!" He roared.

"Well I AM!"

Jakotsu opened his mouth to speak again, but Suikotsu interjected. "Renkotsu - the time." He said, pointing to his wrist and indicating that it was time for the man to leave.

Renkotsu nodded, walking away.

Kyoyume watched him with slight interest. He was levelheaded enough for a man that was supposed to be a teacher in her school. But she couldn't help but hate their arguments. The sound hurt her ears, and she hated that she could not relieve them.

"Hmm, here we are. Home sweet home." Jakotsu grumbled. "Later, Kyo!"

Kyoyume nodded and waved before heading to her own home. "See ya tomorrow."

She locked the door behind her. She just realized how good that coffee had been she would have to go again.

'_But not with Naraku.'_ She thought bitterly, taking her hat off after she was sure that all the windows were closed.

She yawned to herself, thinking over her day and how bad it had sucked.

Her memories slowed they reached the spot where Naraku had given her the hat, and she had so stupidly just taken it from him as if nothing were wrong. She felt like she wanted to cry, but held back the tears. It would not do to cry about such a thing. Sniffling to herself, she decided that maybe she just needed to rest. Today had indeed been long, and she didn't feel like thinking about it anymore.

She flopped down on her bed, and tried to fall asleep.

Kyoyume tossed and turned, trying to calm herself, but the single memory kept replaying over and over again until his red eyes were burned into her memory. Shaking her head, she let out an audible, protesting groan before snuggling into her pillow and closing her eyes.

End Chapter


	3. Chapter Three

Ears By: Skittlez and OtakuSailorV

Chapter Three 

Kyoyume walked through the halls to her first class, wearing a different hat from the day before.

"Hey!" A familiar voice called.

Kyoyume half-turned toward the voice, only to see Ayame. She smiled brightly at her friend and greeted her in the same manner. "Hey."

"My friend said she saw you in the Java with Naraku and the Kotsu boys, that true?"

Kyoyume smiled weakly at her friend. "Yeah." She said in a downtrodden tone.

"Oh, that's cool."

"Yeah, I guess." Kyoyume frowned, not wanting to admit that she really hadn't had a choice in the matter.

She sighed. "Kouga got himself hurt, I was at the hospital with him, 30 stitches in the right arm. The idiot."

"That sucks." Kyoyume replied. "Is he ok now?"

"Yeah, him and Ginta and Hakkaku are staying home for a couple of days though."

Kyoyume laughed despite the seriousness of the situation. "Hope they enjoy themselves."

"Bah. They always do."

She giggled again. "Must be nice." She mused as she walked into the room, Ayame right behind her.

"You could say that."

They took their seats and continued chatting until the teacher came in and interrupted everything by starting on with a long, drawn out lecture that was quite boring. Kyoyume tried to keep awake by amusing herself with idle things.

The school and its lectures were particularly boring, Kyoyume found.

But she had her friends and that's mainly all that mattered to her. She had never much enjoyed school, so it never really mattered how boring anything got as long as she had something else to look forward to.

Finally lunch came, she didn't see Naraku at first and she was thankful for that. But she did meet someone else she decided she hated more.

He was tall, though not nearly as tall as Naraku and his silver-orange hair was pulled back into a tuft of a ponytail. His eyes showed golden and were slighted in a devious manner as he approached her. Kyoyume decided on the spot that the boy was one of those conceited jerk types and that she wanted nothing to do with him if she could help it. Then again, she assumed, maybe he was one of Naraku's messengers, ordering her to do something ridiculous lest he reveal her most dire secret.

"Well, hello." He greeted smugly.

Kyoyume's eyelids drooped as she watched him with little to no interest. Whatever he wanted he would have to say it and fast for her attention span was always short with morons like this. "Hey." She greeted casually enough.

"You're the new girl right?"

"Yeah. . ." She replied slowly, raising one eyebrow in slight question.

"I didn't expect you to be. . ."

"Yeah?" She asked, still raising the single eyebrow to show that she wanted him to go on with whatever he had to say.

"So. . .beautiful."

Kyoyume's eyebrow fell, and she just watched him for a moment, not impressed at all. She supposed she should be blushing, and on the inside the comment made her frantic, but for some reason this guy didn't sound very truthful to her. _'Must be cuz he looks preppy.' _She thought to herself.

"So would you. . ." He started. "Hey back off Ichiyasha!" Someone growled.

Kyoyume turned her head slowly to see who had spoken. ". . . ?"

Naraku shoved Ichiyasha away. "Watch who you mess with, rapist." He snapped quietly.

Kyoyume's ears picked up the comment, but she kept to herself, watching everything with dull eyes, her head leaning on one hand as she munched on fries. Ichiyasha looked ticked before he stalked away, and Kyoyume briefly wondered why she had never seen him before.

Naraku shook his head and mumbled. Then he started away. "Later." He said, waving to her.

Kyoyume stuck another fry in her mouth before turning back to her meal, forgetting that the incident ever happened.

"What just happened?" Ayame asked blankly, sitting down with her lunch.

Kyoyume just shrugged. "Hell if I know."

"I saw Ichiyasha over here. What was going on?"

"He asked if I was the new girl and I said 'yeah' and he started to ask something, and then Naraku came over and started shoving him around." She shrugged again, leaving out Ichiyasha's little 'comment'.

"Damn, Naraku's bad but Ichiyasha's a nutcase, be careful."

Kyoyume laughed harshly. "Don't worry, the guys a major ass, I can tell." She smiled at her friend. "I'll be fine."

"Good."

"Kouga and them still out?" Kyoyume asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Of course."

"They must be really enjoying themselves." Kyoyume giggled a little.

"Watching TV and eating all the food in my kitchen?"

"Is that what they're doing?"

"Probably." She said, munching on pizza.

"Mmm, then they really _must_ be having fun." Kyoyume joked.

"Hahaha, that's great."

Kyoyume cocked her head to one side. "?"

"That means I have to go shopping for more!" She replied laughing.

"Ah, I see. That sucks." Kyoyume agreed with a bright smile. Looking up, she noticed that the warning bell was about to ring. "Oop, time to go, Ayame." She informed the red head.

Ayame nodded, finishing off her pizza in one bite and standing up, straightening her old jeans and throwing her trash away. "Oh, I've been meaning to…give you my number..." she muttered fishing through a pocket, she pulled something out and handed it to Kyoyume. "There, call me any time!"

Kyoyume grabbed at a piece of paper in her backpack, and snatched a pen suddenly, and rapidly wrote hers down. She handed hers to Ayame with a grin. "In case I lose yours, here's mine." She said brightly.

"Thanks! I'll...remember to give you my e-mail eventually." She laughed going to her class.

Kyoyume headed in the opposite direction, still laughing at her friend. "See ya!"

She got to her last class Art and sat down. Naraku was already in class, looking rather grumpy.

This suited Kyoyume just fine seeing as she couldn't care less what he was feeling at the moment. As long as he didn't bother her, she could stay in her gleeful mood for hopefully the rest of the day.

Naraku found himself a good pastime by carving things into the desk with a pocketknife. Kyoyume noticed a few scratches on his arms, but she didn't care.

Today they were given the assignment to 'sit quietly and draw' for the period while the teacher 'graded' their work. However, the woman seemed to have fallen asleep before half the period was done. Kyoyume noticed and immediately rolled her eyes at the teacher's lack of attention to her pupils. Shrugging it off, Kyoyume went back to work.

Naraku leaned back and rubbed his arms absently. "Hey, Kyoyume." He whispered.

Kyoyume raised her head from what she was drawing and looked over at him. "Hm?"

"Don't let Ichiyasha mess with you, just tell me if he does." He replied, going back to his carving.

Kyoyume made a face, wondering what indeed was so strange about the boy that Naraku was even giving her advice for staying away from him. She had to admit, that strange gleam in his eyes had made her want to stay away from him, but she doubted he would ever approach her again after being run off like that. "Ok. . ." She replied slowly, confused but sure that if both Ayame and Naraku were telling her to stay away, then something was up.

He shrugged. "Life long rival kinda thing."

"Ah." She nodded, though she really didn't care about their relations.

He stopped talking and sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Kyoyume looked around for a clock. Spying one, she was relieved to see that there was but five minutes left in the class.

"Thank God it's almost over." He muttered to himself.

Kyoyume stretched in her chair and let out a sigh. Looking over what she had done for the day, she decided it was decent, though she didn't like it that much.

The bell rang and she jumped from her seat.

Grabbing up her bag, she filed out with the rest of the class, ready to get home and away from the worries and freaks at her new school.

She walked out and was greeted by Jakotsu. "Hey Kyo!"

Kyoyume smiled brightly at him. "Hi!" She called, crossing the mob of people to reach him.

He looked over the crowd and squealed. "Hakudoushi!" He cried, grabbing up a silver haired boy and hugging him.

The boy struggled in his arms, trying to push away from him. "Alright, Jakotsu! Give the boy some air!" Kyoyume laughed outright as she tried to help the little boy.

"I'm gonna have to drag him back to Naraku anyway." He replied hugging him. "Isn't he cute?!"

"I can't see him, you're smothering the poor guy!!" Kyoyume giggled as she tried to get a good look at the boy. Only briefly did she note that the boy was somehow connected to Naraku, and that he held the same name as Naraku's younger brother.

She finally grabbed him from Jakotsu's grip. He sighed in relief. "Thanks lady."

She smiled down at him, deciding that he indeed was cute, but in a childish way. "No problem, and the names Kyoyume." She replied brightly.

He smiled. Then Naraku came over and the kid decided to be smart and try to hide behind Kyoyume.

Kyoyume looked at him curiously, not quite sure what he was doing until she spied Naraku out of the corner of her eye.

Naraku laughed. "You've discovered Hakudoushi I see?" He asked her.

Kyoyume continued to watch the boy that was hiding behind her, watching Naraku from around her legs. "It would appear so." She replied flatly, never happy when he came around.

Hakudoushi finally smiled, running over and glomping Naraku's leg. "I can see Entei today right?" He asked him calmly, but with obvious hope. "You said you'd ground him from me."

Kyoyume watched with slight amusement, though none of it showed on her face. "Perhaps." Naraku sighed.

"He's MY horse anyway!" The boy persisted. "This your new friend?" He asked jerking a thumb towards Kyoyume.

_'Well, he's very fast to change subjects.'_ Kyoyume noted.

Naraku glared at him. "Sort of."

Kyoyume made a face inwardly, not liking his comment.

"What happened to your arms Naraku?" Jakotsu asked, grabbing one of his arms and inspecting it.

Naraku snatched it away, frowning. "None of your business." He grumbled.

"Ah, the work of Ichiyasha I'm guessing?" Jakotsu asked, knowingly.

He smirked. "Yeah, but he's just a light-weight bastard."

"You might want Suikotsu to look at these, they look kinda deep."

Naraku shrugged. "I'll live." He replied casually.

"Hakudoushi make sure he gets those cleaned." Jakotsu whispered to the shorter boy, who nodded.

Hakudoushi gave Jakotsu a thumbs-up and a small grin before turning to Kyoyume, watching her curiously, though she did not notice his eyes on her.

Naraku laughed. "I guess Hakudoushi likes you, Kyoyume."

Kyoyume blinked, coming out from a slight daze she had been in and looked to the little boy, giving him a small smile.

He smirked back, very Naraku-like. "She seems cool."

Kyoyume blushed slightly, not used to such comments being said in front of her. "Oh, thank you." She replied.

Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder, she tensed up just as suddenly, having a very, very bad feeling about it.

Her ears fought to stand straight up in surprise, but the hat was pushing them down too hard for them to even manage a slight moment of freedom. Turning her head, Kyoyume followed the hand with her eyes, all the way up the arm attached to it, right up tot he face of the owner of the hand. _'Ichiyasha.'_ She seethed, wanting to burn his hand from its place on her shoulder.

Naraku growled in his throat. "Hey, I thought I told you to back off?"

Kyoyume stepped away from his hand, narrowing her eyes on him in distaste. "Since when have I listened to you?" Ichiyasha asked, wrinkling his nose at Naraku.

Naraku narrowed his eyes. "I don't know, but now's a great time to start."

Kyoyume looked to Jakotsu for help, she was lost about what was going on, and didn't much like how close Ichiyasha was to her. "Why should i listen?" Ichiyasha asked, raising one slender eyebrow at Naraku.

"Because, I know every move you make. And if you lay a finger on her, either of my sisters or Jakotsu again, I'll know and you'll regret it from more than just one angle, my friend."

Ichiyasha sneered. "Tch. I'm so scared, Naraku."

Naraku's eye twitched a little and he ran a hand over his arm again. "It should."

They had a silent stare-down then, in which neither of them seemed to blink, their eyes narrowed on each other. Kyoyume watched curiously, still confused.

Suddenly, faster than a human could comprehend Ichiyasha struck out at Naraku.

Kyoyume's ears tried to perk up again, but still the hat held them in place. Stunned, she took a slight, shocked step back. She was equally surprised when Naraku dodged around the blow, still glaring at his rival. His red eyes had not blinked once.

Jakotsu pulled her back further. "They're dangerous when they fight." He whispered as Naraku kicked his attacker's legs out from under him easily.

Kyoyume looked up to him curiously, but soon turned her eyes back tot he fight. She had no real comprehension of the moves since they were going too fast, but her eyes followed as much as they could.

The last blow of the fight was delivered by Ichiyasha. He struck out again and hit Naraku the stomach, then walked away as if nothing had happened.

Kyoyume glared at his retreating back, adding him to her 'people I hate' list. Looking to Naraku, she wondered if she should be worried about him or not. She felt like it was half her fault.

He was hunched over a little trying to catch his breath; he closed his eyes briefly then smiled up at his onlookers. "I'm fine." He muttered standing back up straight.

Kyoyume was relieved that he was not hurt, though that did not diminish her distaste for him and what he was doing to her. Still, she had decided that Ichiyasha was higher on her 'hate' list than Naraku was.

"Stupid bastard." He cursed through tightly clenched teeth.

Jakotsu was also glaring, and Hakudoushi stood looking mild and uncaring as he watched what was going on around him. Obviously this happened enough that neither of them were frightened or alarmed by it like Kyoyume was. Aware that she was still quite the 'new kid', she decided she should try and pick up on things faster from now on. "He's all full of hot air, the lout." Jakotsu grumbled.

Naraku nodded. "Just watch your back, Kyoyume, he's not _all_ talk."

Kyoyume nodded silently, her eyes glued on the dismal crowd still milling about around them. "I will." She assured in a wanton tone.

He nodded. "You might want to be heading home?"

She nodded again. "Yeah."

He looked over his shoulder. "I'll walk with you. Ichiyasha might follow you." He replied. Jakotsu muttered something under his breath sounding like 'paranoid.'

Kyoyume stiffened slightly, she didn't want Naraku to find out where she lived! Not like she had much choice though, he would probably just threaten to pull her hat off if she didn't let him walk her. Sighing, she nodded again. "Fine."

She started walking and he followed, Jakotsu promised to take Hakudoushi back to Naraku's house for him as they left.

Kyoyume had to direct him, since he didn't know where to go, and even when she told him it was by Jakotsu's home, he didn't seem to know the directions. Sighing inwardly again, she wondered how she had ever gotten such bad luck. _'Black cat ears. When a black cat crosses your path, you get bad luck! That must mean I'm cursed for life!'_ She mused to herself, though she knew the story was only an Old Wives' Tale.

He stopped a few yards away and waved good-bye, beginning off in his own direction.

Kyoyume walked to her door and opened it, sighing heavily as she walked in and closed the door back behind her. Leaning back against the door, she closed her eyes and went over everything that had happened so far that day. Why, oh why was she so cursed like this? Why hadn't she been born normal?! Grumbling and growling to herself, Kyoyume went to her room where she dumped her bag and pulled the hat off her head. Deciding that she wanted to change hats again, Kyoyume hunted around for her long lost skullcap in her drawers.

The phone rang suddenly, causing her to jump up in surprise and make a small cat-like noise.

Shaking it off, she went to the phone and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Ayame." The familiar voice greeted

Kyoyume smiled, though she knew her friend couldn't see it. "Hey, what's up?" She asked, trying to manage pressing the phone to her ear and talk at the same time, something that had always been hard for her thanks to her less-than-usual ear problem.

"A friend of mine said she saw that fight between Ichiyasha and Naraku, you were there right?"

"Yeah, I was there. Along with Jakotsu and Hakudoushi." Kyoyume replied, wondering how many friends Ayame had that had seen her in various places.

"Oh, who won?"

"I think it was Ichiyasha, since he swung the last blow, but I have completely no idea what happened, it went so fast."

Ayame laughed. "Tomorrow's Saturday right?"

"I think. I lose track of days. Hold on. . ." Kyoyume went into the other room, the cord of the phone stretching out behind her. Looking on the calendar, she followed along the lines with her finger. "Uhm, yep, tomorrow's Saturday." She confirmed.

"Hmm, I heard about a new club opening. Me and Kouga and the others are going, you wanna come?"

Kyoyume bit her lip, nervous about the proposition. "Sure, why not?" She replied, smiling, though she was still uneasy.

"Cool! Why don't we meet at my place?"

Kyoyume nodded. "Ok, but where do you live?"

"The biggest house on Youroukouzu Lane."

Kyoyume thought. The name sounded familiar, but she could only vaguely remember where that was. "Sorry, but how do I get to there from here?" She asked nervously, hoping she wasn't being a pest.

"Hmm, lesse, where do you live?"

"On Neko Street."

"Oh, that's easy, pull off onto Main and go right, turn left and my house is at the very end! It's the big white house." She laughed.

Kyoyume laughed back. "Thanks, see ya in a few then." She said, going back into the other room.

When Ayame had hung up, Kyoyume smiled. Someone had invited her to go somewhere with them, she had friends.

Gleefully, she went into her room and pulled on her skullcap tightly before putting on a jacket and heading out the door again.

When she finally got to the large white house Ayame was waiting at the door. "Come on in!" She greeted. "Sorry if it's messy, Kouga's a slob."

Kyoyume waved, smiling brightly at her. "Nah, I'm sure it's no worse than my room" She assured her.

They walked inside and true to Ayame's word, the house was messy, old clothes thrown all over the floor and such. "Why don't we hang out in my room where there's less...mess?"

Kyoyume shrugged, though she was giggling at the picture set before her. Kouga was a slob indeed! "Sure."

They walked up a set of mahogany stairs and walked into the room at the end of the hall. It was probably the Master Bedroom, it was neat, the white carpets were spotless as were the red linens on the bed. "Like it? I furnished it myself." Ayame laughed, flopping down on her bed.

Kyoyume took it all in with impressed eyes. "Very nice." She said with a smile, though she felt out of place in the room.

"Sit down." Ayame insisted. "Don't be intimidated by my interior decorating skills." She added.

Kyoyume laughed again, Ayame didn't look like the perceptive type and it caught her off guard. She sat down next to Ayame and smiled. "You're really good." She complimented.

"Yeah, I guess. But I have one major pet-peeve...and it's so silly."

"Oh, come on! It can't be _that_ ridiculous, Ayame!"

"I never know what to wear to special events or anything."

"Well that's nothing!" Kyoyume proclaimed happily. "A lot of people don't."

"Kouga cant either, it annoys me. I can dress everyone but myself for like dances and clubs and stuff."

"Need help?" Kyoyume giggled.

"Sure." Ayame teased back, giving Kyoyume a shove in the arm.

Kyoyume laughed, getting to her feet, she looked around. "Well, what'cha got?"

She walked over to her closet and opened it. "And that's about it."

Kyoyume's eyes widened at the selection. Smiling again, she shook her head. "That's all, eh?" She asked, walking up, still laughing to herself.

Ayame shrugged. "That's just the stuff I like, I got plenty of stuff I can't wear. You want it? I need to get it out of my house." She laughed.

Kyoyume laughed louder. "But where would I put it all?" She joked. "My neighbors would think I went and robbed somebody blind!" Teasingly, she winked at Ayame before pulling out a few things and looking them over. "Well, what do you feel like wearing?"

"White and black, like a silent movie star."

"Not what I meant, but still works." Kyoyume replied, shifting through some things. "How about. . .this, and. . .this."

Ayame looked on curiously. "Kyoyume you're strange." She giggled.

"I know. But would ya want me any other way?" Kyoyume asked in an angelic voice, though she was secretly thinking about her ears when Ayame mentioned the 'w' word.

"No. You're one of the coolest people I've met."

Kyoyume giggled, blushing in embarrassment. "You'd better stop, I'll go on an ego trip."

"Okay. Lemme see what you got." She demanded.

Kyoyume brought them both out, hoping that the combination looked good. "What do you think?" She asked with an awkward smile. "I'm new to this, so no laughing." She joked.

Ayame looked it over. "I'm gonna go see how it looks before I laugh." She replied walking into her bathroom and closing the door.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence!" Kyoyume called through the door.

Ayame didn't reply, then came out in what Kyoyume had picked out. A white tank top and casual black pants. "I like it."

Kyoyume smiled. "Good. Does that mean I did a good job on my first try?"

"Yes." Ayame nodded. "Now...you cant go in what you're wearing, no offense."

Kyoyume looked down at what she was wearing and laughed. "No, I guess I can't very well go like this, can I?" She asked, embarrassed.

"No...hmmm..." Ayame pondered.

"Oh! You don't have to dress me up!" Kyoyume said when she saw that that was Ayame's intention.

"Muhahahahahahaha!"

Kyoyume raised her eyebrows at her, her lips forming a thin line. "No, really Ayame! I'm fine!"

Ayame's maniacal laughter didn't cease and the gleam in her eyes was rather evil. She walked over to a dresser, opened it and pulled some stuff out, shoving it at Kyoyume and pushing her into the bathroom. She then fell over in a fit of giggles.

Kyoyume looked at what she had been handed from beyond the door and made a face. Changing, she kept her hat on the entire time. She walked back out to show Ayame, blushing madly in embarrassment. She definitely wasn't used to this at all and it was an uncomfortable situation at that.

"Blue is your color I believe." Ayame said trying to keep a straight face. "You look cute."

Kyoyume was still blushing, fiddling with her fingers. "Uh, uhm, thanks." She blurted out.

Ayame laughed again. "Keep the outfit, too small for me."

"Oh, thank you, but I couldn't Ayame-" Kyoyume stuttered.

"Take it." Ayame insisted, flatly. "Hmm, you hungry? I'm starved."

"Not really, but I'll have something to drink, thank you." Kyoyume replied.

They walked downstairs to find Kouga, Ginta and Hakkaku playing video games. "Pizza and drinks in the kitchen." Kouga replied instantly. "We'll leave when I beat these two losers."

Kyoyume giggled as she saw the determination in his eyes. He was completely concentrated on the game, for his eyes had not even left the screen when he had spoken.

"They'll be at it for a month." Ayame muttered walking into the kitchen.

"They're that competitive?" Kyoyume asked, sneaking a peek over her shoulder at them.

"Sometimes Ginta and Hakkaku get bored and ditch out. Sometimes I have to unplug the XBox."

Kyoyume giggled again. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

"Yeah."

Kyoyume sipped on a soda as Ayame ate. They talked briefly of idle things, stuff they had seen on TV and music on the radio mostly.

"How do you like our little town?"

"It's. . ." Kyoyume searched for the correct word. ". . .different than all my previous homes." She finished, smiling. "But I like it better than those other places."

"Yeah, some weird stuff happens." She agreed thoughtfully.

"That's good though. It's much more interesting that way." Kyoyume pointed out.

"Yeah. Interesting people you meet. Though not all of them are good."

Kyoyume briefly envisioned Naraku and Ichiyasha, frowning at the thought of them. "Yeah, I know what you mean." She replied.

"Yeah." Ayame said, biting a piece of pizza.

Kyoyume finished her drink and sat back in her chair, sighing. "Thank you for the drink." She said.

"No problem." Ayame replied looking at her watch.

Kyoyume peered at her wrist as well, wondering what time they were planning on leaving.

"Kouga, are you done yet?"

There was no reply from the other room except the sound of protesting, frustrated groans of defeat every now and then. The sound of missiles being fired was heard in the background. "What?" Came Kouga's delayed call.

"Are you done?!" Ayame snapped at him. "I would like to beat the crowd."

The glowing TV lights were suddenly diffused in the other room, and with it came the sound of regular television before it was also silenced. "Fine, fine!" Kouga roared back, rounding the corner, Ginta and Hakkaku right on his heels.

Ayame stood up and was nose to nose with Kouga for a second before she leaned in and mockingly kissed him on the nose before walking away, Kyoyume following, she tossed Kouga a set of keys. "You're driving."

Kouga rubbed at the tip of his nose with the side of his arm, grumbling as he trailed after the two girls. "Whatever." He replied.

Kyoyume, Hakkaku and Ginta were piled in the back seat. Ayame and Kouga bickering in the front.

The three in the back were snickering at them silently as they were driven to the club. Kyoyume became increasingly nervous, sucking in her breath, she tried to banish her anxiety, but found that she couldn't.

They got there, and walked to the door. "Kouga watch your back. Renkotsu is the bouncer." Ayame laughed heading the group off. They flashed IDs at the bouncer who was, in fact, Renkotsu and walked in.

Kyoyume was overcome by the noises and lights, and gawked briefly until Ayame pulled on her arm. Following her friend, Kyoyume shied away from the amplifiers that were blasting too loudly in her sensitive ears.

It was rock music, the crowd was mainly rock. "Lets sit at the bar." Ayame insisted.

Kyoyume agreed and followed after her closely. Sitting down, Kyoyume looked about her curiously. This was all so new and exciting, though she was still anxious.

"So..." Ayame started, trying to think of ANYTHING to say.

Kyoyume smiled, laughing a little. "This is so weird, I've never been to a place like this before."

"Hehe, oh, I really pray Kouga doesn't get mouthy with anyone." Ayame said suddenly.

Kyoyume looked through the crowd, trying to look for the aforementioned boy. "Why?"

"Because when he does he gets in fights. When he gets in fights I have to take him to the doctor."

Kyoyume laughed. "Well, I hope he doesn't either then."

"Yeah. Too much hassle. Maybe he'll just play pool with Ginta and Hakkaku like last time."

"Hopefully." Kyoyume agreed.

"Hey, Kagome!" Ayame called over the crowd. A black haired girl pushed her way through the crowd and sat down beside Ayame.

Kagome smiled at them both. "Hey, Ayame." She greeted. "And. . ." She looked at Kyoyume curiously.

"Kyoyume." She greeted; suddenly a few more girls joined Kagome. "Hi." She said as they waved greetings.

"Hey, Kyoyume." Kagome said. "I'm Kagome, Ayame's friend, and this is Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi." She pointed them out in turn, each one smiling or waving in return.

"Oh...hi, I'm new in town, kinda." Kyoyume replied.

"I thought I hadn't seen you before." The one called Yuka said with a smile. "I didn't know there was a new girl around." Ayumi said airily.

"Ditz's...all of you." The newer girl on the scene replied with a kind smile. "Hey Sango." They all chorused patiently.

"Hello, Sango, I'm Kyoyume." Kyoyume said politely, smiling. Sango nodded, looking Kyoyume over for a moment.

"Hi." She added. "See, Miroku told me a new student was coming. Good to have a boyfriend in the front office I guess." She informed them nodding. "Did you guys hear, my brother is dating Sesshoumaru Taiyoukai's little sister?" She asked them smiling brightly.

The others exchanged glances and giggles. "Does Sesshoumaru know?" Yuka asked smugly, laughing.

"Yes."

Yuka's eyes bulged, like the other girls'. "Woah." She commented, blinking back her surprise. "Well, congrats to Kohaku either way!"

"Uh-huh." Sango nodded. "I had to talk Sesshoumaru out of sitting in on them hanging out together. Took hours."

"I'll bet." Kagome said, leaning back in her chair with raised eyebrows, though her eyes held no interest in them.

Yuka stood up. "I'm gonna hang out outside for a little while okay? I'll be back in after a bit, just need some fresh air."

The others allowed her to go with nods of understanding. Kyoyume watched her until she disappeared than turned back to the others, kind of lost in the conversation.

Ayame raised an eyebrow. "She'll come back mad or won't come back."

Kyoyume raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"Renkotsu is out there. They hate each other. At least they did last time I checked."

"Ah, I see." Kyoyume said, frowning. She wondered if that was good for a student and a teacher to hate each other openly like that.

Kagome and her friends eventually drifted off. Ayame looked bored. "So..."

Kyoyume smiled lightly, her eyes wandering over the great crowd. Her poor ears were pounding to the beat of the music. "Yep."

"Wanna go spy on Yuka?"

Kyoyume cocked her head to one side slightly. "Why?" She asked, blinking. Why would they wanna spy on Renkotsu and Yuka fighting?

Ayame laughed. "I dunno, because I'm bored."

Kyoyume shrugged. "Sure then, why not?" She agreed, though she was still uncertain about what was so interesting.

"It's not really fun, but it's something to do."

Kyoyume hopped down from her seat. "Hahaha, whatever you say."

There was a small lobby just outside the main room, there was a small dusty window, and they peered out of it and saw Yuka talking to Renkotsu boredly.

"Looks like they're having as much fun as we are." Kyoyume commented with a giggle.

Ayame furrowed her brows. "Are they now..."

"Hmm?" Kyoyume raised her eyebrows and turned back to the window.

"This isn't natural...they never just talk."

"Maybe they've learned to tolerate each other?" She suggested, her ears trying to stand up underneath her skullcap.

"Tolerate..."

"Yeah. . .Hell, I dunno." Kyoyume shrugged.

"Take a look." Ayame prodded, moving over so Kyoyume could get a better view.

Kyoyume scooted over, blinking against the strange change in lighting. Her eyes widened though when she spotted Yuka and Renkotsu. "?!"

Ayame fell over laughing. "What am I missing?!"

Kyoyume fell back, leaning against the wall. "I think my eyes are bleeding."

"Tell me!"

"It's wrong!!!" Kyoyume told her.

"TELL ME!"

"You look!" Kyoyume said, pushing her friend toward the window.

"I don't want to!" Ayame argued slamming her eyes shut.

"Then I'm not going to tell you!"

"Please just give me a hint!"

"Well, what do you think they're doing?! Use you're imagination!!" Kyoyume said, laughing at her friend by this time.

Ayame peeked out the window. "Dear, tell me I'm seeing things." She begged Kyoyume slamming her eyes shut again.

"Unless we're both hallucinating the same thing, I believe it is quite real." Kyoyume assured her, patting her shoulder understandingly.

Ayame whimpered. "Ew."

Kyoyume giggled to herself. "Agreed. But whatever floats your boat I guess."

"But do they have to...right in front of...why!?"

Kyoyume shrugged, playing with the rim of her hat. "Hell if I know." She used one of her favorite tag lines.

"Why him? Why her? Why them together? That's just..."

"Wrong?" She suggested.

"Yes."

Kyoyume giggled again. "Shall we leave before we scorch our vision?" She suggested.

"Nah...I wanna see what happens now."

Kyoyume shrugged, sitting against the wall still. "Go ahead, I'll sit here." She laughed at Ayame's perverse curiosity.

"Maybe we should head home though, I'm tired."

"What about Kouga and them?" Kyoyume asked, yawning.

Ayame walked back into the main club and found the boys, telling them shortly that they were leaving, so they crowded back into the car and drove home.

Kyoyume yawned again as she got in next to a weary Ginta and Hakkaku. Kouga was the only one who still seemed wide-awake.

Ayame was still laughing. "Kyoyume, lets tell Kouga what we saw!"

Kyoyume grimaced. "You tell him. It's still making me sick to my stomach."

Ayame looked at Kouga. "Ya know that rumor about Renkotsu?"

Kouga snickered, though he was raising an eyebrow in question. "Who doesn't?"

"Well it's true." Ayame laughed.

Kouga's eyes bulged and both of the boys in the back stood to attention at the proclamation of this. "Really? Who is it?"

"Yuka."

"W-what?!" Kouga fell back, Ginta and Hakkaku moved with him as if he they were one being. "You have to be kidding!" Ginta cried. "Yeah they hate each other to death!!" Hakkaku added.

"So we thought..."

"You saw this too?" Ginta asked, looking to Kyoyume who nodded, rolling her eyes.

"They were like...all over each other..." Ayame groaned.

"Please!" Kyoyume cried, though she was smiling. "Refrain from mentioning such disgusting incident!"

"Okay."

Kyoyume sighed wearily, shaking her head. "Hoo, what a night."

They got home, Kouga went to sleep Ginta and Hakkaku went to sleep, Ayame threw Kyoyume a blanket and pillow on the couch and they both fell asleep.

The next morning, Kyoyume was unusually groggy, and it took her a moment to remember why she wasn't in her own room. Shaking her head, she reached for her skullcap and pulled it tighter down over her head. Her ears protested to the all night stay underneath the smothering hat, but it couldn't be helped for now. So she would have sore ears the rest of the day, big deal.

Kouga was in the kitchen cooking breakfast; Ginta and Hakkaku were with him.

Shyly, she wondered if they had seen her ears or even guessed at what lay under her hats and hoods.

She got up finally and walked in. He was cooking pancakes and bacon. "Shh...it's for me and Ayame's anniversary.." he told her.

Kyoyume smiled knowingly, trying to hide a laugh. Nodding silently, she watched with interest, hoping that she wasn't a pest.

Kouga finished and walked upstairs to wake Ayame.

Looking about, Kyoyume took the room in, putting everything down to memory so that she wouldn't feel so foreign to the area when next she visited. It was very nice, and Kyoyume wondered if she should get going soon. She had been out all night, away from home, and she was worried, of course, for she had never been away from home for so long in all her known life.

She decided she would leave sometime after breakfast, if everything went right.

Shifting in her seat, she tried to act inconspicuous as she saw Kouga ushering Ayame down the steps.

Ayame smiled. "You remember!" Which was only half-true, Ginta and Hakkaku had reminded him that morning, he just didn't want to be strangled.

Kyoyume smiled a little at the expression on Ayame's face. "Of course I remembered!" Kouga said, smiling smugly. "You think I'd forget?"

"Yes, actually." She replied sitting down.

Kouga made a face at her. "Well, I didn't." He said, giving her the breakfast he had prepared.

She thanked him and they began eating, it was very good. Kyoyume assumed Kouga could do things he put his mind to, breakfast for example.

The whole time, they talked of idle things, but Kouga mainly wanted details on Renkotsu and Yuka from the night before, probably so that he could have some dirt on the teacher, Kyoyume figured. She stayed relatively quiet the entire time, only speaking up to verify something that Ayame had said, or to add her two-cents to the whole thing.

They finished breakfast around noon and sat around idly, wasting time talking, laughing, acting stupid.

Kyoyume was nervous still about her home, but was in no rush to leave her friends by this point. Smiling, she laughed at something Ginta had just said about Kouga's bad habits. The boy had received a clout on the head, but still Kyoyume was humored by it, as was everyone else.

They stopped laughing briefly, looking around bored.

Kyoyume stood, figuring this was her cue to leave. "I had better get going now." She said with a small smile.

"Oh...okay! See ya Monday I guess!" Ayame replied.

Kyoyume waved to them all, smiling before going to the door and letting herself out with a final call of 'goodbye.'

She got home, no new messages on the answering machine and nothing on TV...what a life.

Grumbling, she let her ears free from their prison, groaning as they tingled. They had fallen asleep in their flattened state and little pinpricks were now rushing through them.

She was tired, so she flopped down on her couch for something of a cat-nap, falling asleep, her mind buzzed of the fun she had with her friends.

End Chapter


	4. Chapter Four

Ears

By: Skittlez and OtakuSailorV

Chapter Four 

Monday at school the school had returned to a monotone stupor, boring Kyoyume to death. Nothing remotely interesting happened until lunch. When she found herself face-to-face with Ichiyasha again.

He had walked up as if there was nothing remotely wrong with it and Kyoyume immediately felt disgust and annoyance mounting inside of her. What was this guys problem? Why couldn't he take a hint and leave her alone? Kyoyume regarded him with an uninterested stare, daring him to speak to her.

He put an arm around her shoulders and smirked. "So, how are you?" He asked her.

Kyoyume pushed his arm back off her shoulders with distaste. "Fine." She answered, watching him warily.

He did the same thing again, this time tightening his grip. "That's good..." He replied. "So..."

Kyoyume narrowed her eyes at him, trying to move his arm off of her but finding that she couldn't. "Do you mind?" She asked tersely, shrugging her shoulder.

"Not at all."

Kyoyume's jaw set, and her eyes looked like they could burn through him if he were flammable in any way. She moved away from him in hopes of getting his arm off. "Well, I do. Get off." She growled out at him.

"Hey! Ichiyasha!" Naraku growled, walking up and punching the boy right in the face. "She told you to get off. Don't you ever quit?!"

Ichiyasha glared at Naraku, righting himself at the blow. Kyoyume watched him, her anger flaring. For the first time, she was hoping that Naraku would do something truly horrible to the boy. "Stay out of this." Ichiyasha said in a tight tone.

"Leave her alone." Naraku retorted, standing as tall as he could.

"Why should I?"

"Because she doesn't like you!"

Ichiyasha made a face, like such a thing didn't matter. "Mind you're own business."

"This _is_ my business!" He growled.

"How's that?" Ichiyasha demanded, keeping his tone even, though there was a hint of malicious curiosity in it.

Naraku's face fell and his eyes narrowed. "My business not yours, c'mon Kyoyume, let's get away from this idiot."

Kyoyume stood, choosing from the lesser of two evils, she followed after Naraku, her anger flaring and snapping in her blue-gray eyes. A muscle twitched in her jaw and she desperately wanted to turn around and gouge Ichiyasha's eyes out. Calming herself, she gave Naraku a partially grateful look, though his eyes weren't on her. He was watching Ichiyasha with mounting anger.

Ichiyasha moved and grabbed Kyoyume's wrist, hard, glaring at Naraku with a gaze that would kill a normal human.

Kyoyume regarded the tight grip on her wrist with a calm exterior, though her heart was racing and her mind was mad with anger by now. The roar of some beast resounded in her mind, her ears twitching angrily underneath her cap. Naraku seemed irked by the same thing, and for a moment, they stood in tense silence.

Naraku smacked the hand away after a second and took Kyoyume by the shoulders, steering her away from her aggressor.

Kyoyume looked over her shoulder slightly, giving Ichiyasha a long, stony glare. _'I'll kill you.'_ She growled out repeatedly in her mind, though she knew she was capable of no such act. Naraku's grip on her shoulders was hard, and she tried not to drag her feet, though it was hard for he was walking rather fast.

He loosened his grip on her and looked at her. "Are you okay?"

Kyoyume nodded gruffly, still glaring, her inner fire still blazing in disgust. "Yeah." She said, not meeting his eyes as she thought of all the gruesome ways she could destroy Ichiyasha.

He lifted up the sleeve of her shirt a little to where Ichiyasha had gripped her arm. "It's bruising..."

Kyoyume took her hand away from him. "I'm fine." She repeated.

He shrugged. "So sue me for being a good person for once." He grunted.

Kyoyume felt ashamed then for not truly appreciating what he had done. Who knew what might have happened if he had not interrupted? "Thanks." She said, still not meeting his eyes, though her cheeks were flushed in both resentment and embarrassment.

"My pleasure...Ichiyasha's an idiot."

"Agreed." Kyoyume said spitefully, sitting down.

He sat down in front of her and sighed. "Why does he bother you?" He asked.

Kyoyume shrugged. "Tch, hell if I know." She said, her lip twitching with disgust. "The guy's an ass."

"And a pervert."

"Does he usually do stupid shit like that?" Kyoyume asked, her eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"Yes."

Kyoyume made a face. "I thought so." She grumbled.

"Yeah...he'll stalk you to the ends of the Earth." He grumbled.

"Wonderful." She commented sarcastically, looking to the clock to see how much longer she had to sulk around, thinking about this. What she wanted and needed at the moment was something that would take her full attention and force her to stop thinking about what had just transpired.

"Hm..." Naraku pondered for a moment.

"The bell's gonna ring." Kyoyume said, her ears lying flat as she thought about the sharp, loud noise of the bell.

"Uh-huh." He replied. "Wanna get walking, beat the crowds?"

Kyoyume nodded silently, withdrawn in her own thoughts. _'Great, getting escorted to class. I'll bet people are gonna start thinking we're a couple or something.'_ She thought grudgingly.

* * *

They walked through the near empty halls, the teachers, surprisingly didn't ask questions of Naraku, they made it to the classroom just as the bell rang.

Kyoyume sat in silence as the rest of the class filed in soon after. They all looked happy or thoughtful, and Kyoyume briefly envied them.

Naraku was watching the people dully. "I pity these idiots."

"Why's that?" Kyoyume asked dully, though she had not turned toward him.

"Because, they never know what's going on three inches past their noses."

Kyoyume smirked harshly, eyeing everyone with her strange blue-gray eyes. "Hm." She made a noise of agreement.

"And they hate me because I know more about them than they want to admit. And use it."

Kyoyume knew she was still smirking, this time with full-agreement on her part. She would not say that she hated him, for he had helped her, but still, it didn't make up for his deeds toward her either. Thinking it over, she surmised that she hated him only two-thirds of the time that she was around him.

"Me and the guys are going to a concert after coffee. Wanna come?" He asked, looking around.

Kyoyume frowned slightly, wondering why he was asking if he could just force her to come by pulling her hat off on the spot right then. Shrugging, she gave a small nod. "Sure." She said resignedly, deciding that she didn't want to be home alone after hearing about Ichiyasha's stalker attitude.

"Don't worry, my twin sister's coming along with Hakudoushi and Kanna. You won't be the only girl."

"I'm not." She assured, though her tone was dull and lacking of her usual forceful spirit behind it.

"It'll be fun. It's a good band."

"Ok." The blue-gray eyes blinked closed for a moment, as if she had fallen asleep. Slowly, she lifted the lids again to peer up and see the teacher striding toward her desk. Class was about to start, and she groaned inwardly.

The teacher began drawing diagrams on the board quietly, not even looking around.

Kyoyume watched in a dull manner, her eyes half-lidded and glazed with thought. She only half-listened to what the teacher said; her thoughts were on memories of the day, things she had to do, and about the upcoming concert. _'Should I wear a different hat. . . ?' _She thought idly but decided against it.

She stifled a laugh when Naraku passed her a piece of paper. It read: _'I forgot to mention Renkotsu is bringing his girlfriend. Please, proceed to gag now.'_

She looked sidelong at him and wondered how he became aware of her new knowledge. Smirking lightly, she shook her head at him slowly, as if to tell him 'you're horrible' in a subtle way.

He laughed and gave her a 'I'll explain later.'

Kyoyume made a face, so maybe he didn't know that she was already aware of who he was referring to.

Class finally ended and they filed out.

Kyoyume gave a long sigh and scratched the back of her neck thoughtfully before standing and following the rest of the class, half-waiting for Naraku to catch up to her.

"Hey, Kyo!" Jakotsu called. "Naraku invited you to the concert right?"

Kyoyume crossed the throng of people to come over to him. "Yep." She said brightly, instantly out of her gloomy mood now that she had a friend to talk to.

"Bankotsu and Hakudoushi and Kanna and Kagura and Me and Renkotsu and....urgh Renkotsu's girlfriend." He replied. "And Naraku and you!"

"Sound like fun then." She was all smiles as she spoke with him. "I'm sure you won't be too miserable with your brother and his girlfriend there." She added brightly, trying to cheer him up somewhat.

He snorted. "Yeah I guess. If they can keep their hands off each other."

Kyoyume giggled at his look. "There'll be so much going on, I'm sure you could ignore it."

"I hope."

"Of course you can." She assured when he looked completely disbelieving. "Or you could always just find a different spot and act like you have no idea who they are."

"That might work. Renkotsu does that to me all the time." He laughed.

She giggled again. "See?" She said confidently as she spotted Naraku and the others headed their way.

A black haired girl that Kyoyume had never seen was walking with them, she was tall with black hair and red eyes, and she looked a little reluctant.

Kyoyume smiled brightly at them all, though it wasn't at all directed toward Naraku whom she had decided it was time to despise again. She remembered Hakudoushi, and as she looked on, she thought she saw a shadow of a girl hanging behind him, almost right on his heels as if she were afraid. Pale and listless, her hair was so white it shone light blue when shadowed, and her eyes were half-lidded eternally and void of any emotion.

"This is Kanna." Naraku said, pointing to the white-haired girl. "And this is Kagura." He pointed to the tall girl, who snorted.

"Hello, I'm Kyoyume." She greeted, giving a small wave at them.

Kanna just nodded and Kagura smirked. "Lets go for coffee. I buy." Naraku said.

Everyone nodded, and Kyoyume spent her time chatting idly with her friends on the way to the coffee shop.

They sat down at the largest table they could find, Kyoyume sat across from Kagura, beside Bankotsu and against a wall. They ordered their drinks and chatted avidly with each other.

"What's this band called that we're going to go see?" Kyoyume asked no one in particular.

"It's a local band." Naraku replied. "Forgot the name."

"Cool." Kyoyume commented, sipping at her small drink thankfully.

"Uh-huh. Naraku you're being stupid. It's MY band." Kagura corrected. "Remember...me and Kikyou and Yura?" She said boredly. "Don't be dumb."

Naraku acted as if he had not heard. "Oh-ho? Must have slipped my mind. . ."

Kagura rolled her eyes. "That means Sesshoumaru will be there." She added. Naraku's eyes darkened slightly.

". . ." He made no answer, obviously pondering something devious over in his mind. Kyoyume noted that this 'Sesshoumaru' was no friend of Naraku's and would probably either be sadistic like Ichiyasha, or a nice guy.

Jakotsu's eyes however, lit up. "Sesshoumaru? Will Inuyasha and Miroku be there too?!"

"Well, probably. . ." Kagura said, giving him a sickened look. Kyoyume tried to process this all over in her mind. These boys were people that Jakotsu seemed to like, but upon hearing their names, Naraku's eyes continued to darken with hatred.

Bankotsu's grip on his cup tightened. "Inuyasha...?" He started.

Kyoyume's eyes came to Bankotsu and she did more calculations in her mind. Who could they possibly all be referring to? She couldn't even begin to imagine them. "Yeah. . .most likely. . ." Kagura said slowly, watching them all with distaste shining in her red eyes.

"Damn dog-eared piece of shit." Bankotsu mumbled. Jakotsu looked at him with a pout and everyone else rolled their eyes.

Naraku checked his watch. "Better get going, or you'll be late." He said to Kagura and started to get out of his seat.

Kagura got up and left. "See ya there." She told them, leaving.

Naraku resumed his seat and watched her until she had disappeared from sight. Frowning still, he seemed to still be mulling something over. Kyoyume suddenly remembered her ears at almost the same moment. The loud noise might hurt her sensitive hearing. Frowning to herself, she thought about what she would do about this.

She'd probably just have to wear a bandana with a hat over it and say her head was cold or something. That might be a good excuse.

She decided then that she could always just go to the bathroom for a break if things got too intense for her ears if all else failed. Still, she hoped she wouldn't have to.

"Kyoyume, earth to you!"

Kyoyume shook her head, clearing her mind from the thoughts that had consumed her, leaving her outer self in a strange, dream-like state. She blushed with embarrassment. "Oh, uhm, sorry." She apologized hurriedly.

"It's okay, we're about to leave, c'mon!"

Kyoyume left her seat and went to catch up with them, excited that she was going to her first concert ever.

* * *

They got to the club-like place and Naraku paid for them all to get in. "Okay, don't get too lost."

Kyoyume nodded, her head turning in every direction, trying to take everything in as she committed it all to memory eagerly. She felt just like a curious little kitten at that moment and she almost laughed outright as a warm feeling tickled her heart. She kept close to her friends, though she still lagged slightly, her feet scuffling on the floor.

Jakotsu and Bankotsu disappeared into a moshpit, but that wasn't Kyoyume's style. "Wanna go play some pool?" Naraku asked.

Kyoyume shrugged and nodded, showing her agreement.

"If you don't know how, I'll teach you, other than that I won't go easy on you."

She gave him a little smirk. "Yes, I know how to play and you had better not. It'll be all the better when I beat you if you weren't holding back just because I'm a girl."

Naraku snorted as they found an empty pool table. "Ladies first."

Kyoyume played along and gave him a mocking bow before setting everything up and taking her shot.

"Stripes." She called as she sunk a ball and taking another shot, and missing.

"That makes me Solids." He commented to himself before taking his turn. He sunk one as well and moved on. His second try was a miss as well, though the ball had come dangerously close to the hole.

Kyoyume narrowed her eyes; the smoky club was noisy. She made her shot, but missed.

Naraku smirked as he sunk the ball from before, and proceeded in sinking another. The third time he missed again, but felt triumphant at any rate. "Hah!" He challenged her with a wicked grin.

She smirked back and sunk a ball, on her second shot she sunk another one, then a third, but she nearly sunk a solid in her third time.

He made a face and Kyoyume grinned back at him with amusement. "Hah!" She mimicked mockingly.

He stuck his tongue out at her and took a shot, but missed.

She giggled, but withheld it when he looked up sharply, only to explode again when he looked away.

"What?" He asked indignantly.

"Oh, nothing." The cat replied innocently before making her shot and sinking one of her striped targets.

Naraku growled a little and made his shot, sinking two of his solids in one hit, shooting again but missing.

There were only a few shots left to make and then everything would be in. Kyoyume looked over the three stripes she had left, and Naraku's two solids. The eight ball loomed dangerously close to being knocked in. Shooting at one of her remaining balls, she managed to get it close enough to getting in, but not quite.

"Haha!" Naraku taunted.

"Oh, shut up you." She said, waving at him as she frowned at the ball.

He shot, and, low-and-behold, accidentally sank the 8-ball.

A pleased smile twisted Kyoyume's lips upward. Gleefully, she grinned at the now frowning Naraku. "Haha." She said, trying not to burst out laughing at his mistake.

Naraku muttered under his breath. Then he looked back up. "Okay, do you want a reward?"

Kyoyume giggled to herself still, her mind not detecting any harm from his comment. "Of course." She replied.

"How about a drink?"

"Fine with me." She said, shrugging and following him to the bar, where they both ordered something.

Naraku paid for the drinks and took a swallow. "You won't win if we play pool again."

"Is that so?" She asked casually, sipping on her drink thoughtfully.

"Yeah." He answered nodding.

"And why not?" Kyoyume demanded, still sipping idly.

"Because I'm the best."

"Hm, doesn't look like you are anymore then."

"Just think that all you want Kyoyume."

"Will do." She said, sitting her glass down finally with a resounding 'thunk.'

"Hey you two, what's up?" Jakotsu asked sitting down beside them.

"Naraku's pouting." Kyoyume stated blandly, trying to keep a straight face, and found that it was working if she thought seriously.

"Why?"

Kyoyume smiled proudly, not letting herself hold back on gloating at all. "Because I beat him at pool." She replied.

Naraku huffed. "Well you do lose your touch having to take care of a bunch of wild children."

"Is that an excuse?" Jakotsu asked cheerily, taunting Naraku.

"Yes!"

Kyoyume giggled, her shoulders shaking in an effort to hide it. Jakotsu, though, laughed outright.

"Oh, its okay, Naraku, why don't you teach Hakudoushi how to play pool with you instead?" Jakotsu asked.

"Are you kidding?" Naraku snorted. "Trying to teach that brat anything is like trying to talk to a brick wall!"

"He's got your stubborn manipulative, mean side, yes."

Naraku grumbled, and Kyoyume felt herself agreeing with the description of the man, her ears twitching slightly on top of her head.

"But, like you, he's also absolutely adorable. So no worries!"

Naraku gave Jakotsu a startled look, one of his eyes twitching. Kyoyume tried not to laugh; for fear that that might signify an agreement on her part.

"Especially when you get all freaked out like that. Toooo cute!" Jakotsu giggled.

Naraku looked about to whack the hysterical man before him, when he suddenly contained himself and slumped back into his seat, sighing. "Tch."

Jakotsu smiled. "Aw you know I'm kidding, Naraku."

"One can _never_ be sure around you, Jakotsu." The red-eyed man assured him bluntly.

"No, because Bankotsu is my one and only." Jakotsu replied with a wink, grabbing the braided man and hugging him tightly.

Naraku wrinkled his nose and Kyoyume giggled again, finishing off her drink. "Thank you." She said happily.

Naraku looked at his watch and yawned. "Shit I'm tired."

Kyoyume turned slightly to peer at the neon light encircling the clock over the bar. Blinking, she realized that it truly was late and that she was usually in bed by this time. As she noticed this, the need for sleep suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks, making her head heavy. She blinked again, yawning as well. "Wow, how did it get so late?"

"I don't know." He replied looking over his shoulder. "I'll walk you home, that okay?" He asked.

Inside, a frown threatened to crease her lips, but she didn't let the feeling show through. It was late after all, and walking home alone might not be such a good idea. Nodding, she decided that it couldn't hurt to let him just walk her home.

They walked, and at the end of the street they noticed a large stack of billowing smoke coming from somewhere down the road. They hurried along to investigate, and saw many fire and police trucks lined up.

Kyoyume felt something inside of her fizzle, grow in sudden proportion until she was sure it was going to burst from her, and died down, smoldering where her heart was supposed to be as she took in the sight before her. Her home, everything was gone! Nothing was left but a black heap, even the grass was half-hidden by black and gray fragments of what had once been her residence. Her ears stood on end underneath the hat, a painful jolt running through her body at the feat.

Naraku was completely silent, he looked at Kyoyume as a fat police officer ran over to her, his huge gut jiggling along with him.

"Is this your house?" He asked Kyoyume as he came up to them, panting and wheezing for breath, his round face red with exertion. Numbly, Kyoyume nodded, feeling as if she were watching the events through a window, her mind blank.

"Well, we don't exactly know what caused the fire. It mostly destroyed everything...."

Kyoyume looked to the remains as if on cue, looking them over. Pitiful. Her ears fell back, crushing themselves against her skull again in a feeble manner. If she'd had a tail, it would have wound between her legs at this point. Her heart sank further, depression mounting high on her. Her house. . .was gone. . . ? "Most everything?" She asked, her voice just as numb and icy as before.

"Most everything...do you live alone?"

Kyoyume took in a small breath. "Yes." She replied.

The cop shook his head. "I suppose you'll have to find a hotel room for the night..."

She nodded again. "I understand." She said, though truly she did not. Her entire body was screaming, her legs were frozen to the spot as she continued to stare at what had once been her home. She couldn't say she had been particularly attached to it, it was simply the fact of the matter that she had lost all her memories and belongings contained inside; that something so horrible had actually happened to her. _'Why?'_ Her mind demanded harshly, grounding out the word and whispering it at the same time.

Naraku lowered his eyes slightly. "You can stay with me." He whispered. "If you need to."

Kyoyume normally would have been flustered right away by the offer, but found that in this state of shock she was in, she was actually more calm and thoughtful. "I would not want to intrude." She whispered back as the policeman started to walk away.

"We have a big house. You wouldn't be intruding, even if its only for a day or two." He retorted. "You can use the guest room."

She paused, thinking it over for a moment. Her eyes had grown somehow distant in this time, the pupils small and vague, the color of her eyes deepening and making it look as if she were asleep without closing her eyes. She felt the same distance growing inside of her, pushing her away from those around her. "I don't know....." She finally admitted, her mind warring on the decision as she spoke.

"Don't worry about it, come on. Let's get out of here." He muttered, pulling her away from the ruins of what had been her house.

Kyoyume had made a protesting noise at first, trying to pull away to stay with her charred home, but Naraku had pulled harder, urging her away. She gave in, since it was apparent that he was stronger and would win a contest of strength if she tried to stay behind much longer. Still her eyes lingered on the mound of fire-worn ashes until they were out of sight.

* * *

They walked down main street and turned on a distant road, it looked dark and foreign to Kyoyume. On the end of the street was a large, ominous looking house. Naraku walked in, pulling Kyoyume along with him. "Hakudoushi, Kanna, I'm home." He called.

Kyoyume was blushing brightly, her senses only slightly coming back to her, though she still felt void of any real emotion. _'Mom and dad's pictures were in there. . .'_ As Naraku had called out, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard, along with the soft padding of secret feet touching on the carpet approaching them.

The pale haired boy and who seemed to be his small white haired sister stood at a doorway. "Hello, Naraku." They greeted.

Naraku pulled Kyoyume into their view a little roughly. "This is Kyoyume, she's staying here for a while." He introduced them.

"Hello." Kyoyume mumbled, they both nodded. She looked around, the large house was quite dark. The furnishings were black or dark blue and the walls were painted to match.

Hakudoushi sent a sideways glance at Naraku, smirking slightly, in a way jeering at his elder sibling. Kanna just stared with those strange, empty eyes of hers that Kyoyume's had resembled a moment before.

"You can sit down, want something to eat or anything?" Naraku asked her.

Kyoyume shook her head. "No, thank you. I'm fine." She assured him, finding that sleep was the only thing she really wanted right now. Maybe, when she woke up, she would find that everything that had happened was actually a dream. . .

"Okay, lemme show you where you can crash. C'mon."

Kyoyume let him tug her along, still blushing slightly from the tight grip he had on her arm. "Uhm, are you sure this is ok?" She felt herself asking.

He let her go quickly. "It's fine, and since you have no more clothes, I'll see if Kagura wants to take you out shopping tomorrow, or you can borrow some of her clothes..."

Kyoyume bowed politely, starting to become flustered as more and more of her personality began to leak through to her again. "T-thank you so much, but you don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine."

"I'm not worrying I'm taking care of you."

"But I've been taking care of myself for a very long time now, I can manage; you don't have to do anything, really....." She insisted.

"I don't have to, but I want to."

Kyoyume blushed slightly, hanging her head in defeat. "Why?" She felt the single word fall from her lips. Why did anybody care about her here? No one had before, so why now?

"Because you're stuck with no where else to go."

Kyoyume didn't answer, but took the answer in thoughtfully. It was true, but still. . . "Thank you." She said at length, in a quiet tone.

"No reason to thank me. You can sleep in here." He told her, leading her to a door by a set of stairs.

Kyoyume looked in. It was very nicely furnished, she saw here that she would lack for nothing. She flushed at how nice it was and looked at Naraku for a moment in astonishment, not quite finding the words to describe the many emotions that welled up inside of her all at one time.

"Good night." Naraku bid his farewell, then added: "My room's right upstairs if you need anything."

Kyoyume bowed deeply, thanking him and wishing him a good night as well before he left. Now, left on her own in this strange house, she walked in and sat on her new bed. Wonderingly, she looked around, gratitude overwhelming her so much that she felt tears sting at her ears, but turned her head skyward until they were gone. _'I'm not gonna cry.'_ She told herself, though her heart desperately ached.

She fell asleep trapping those tears in silently.

* * *

Her dreams that night were fraught with images of her parents, mostly scenes from the pictures, suddenly engulfed in flames. Waking the next morning, she found that she had been hugging her pillow the entire night. Her arms ached slightly from the contact. As her eyes opened and she realized that she had not been dreaming, she felt sorrow threaten to overcome her.

There was a knock on the door. "Miss Kyoyume." A quiet monotone spoke up. "Naraku would like to know if you would join us for breakfast."

Kyoyume brushed away the tears that had come to her eyes before they spilled over. "Oh, uhm, yes." She said, coming out and discovered Kanna outside her door. "Thank you for inviting me." She bowed.

Kanna returned the bow silently. "Just doing as I am told, Miss Kyoyume."

Kyoyume followed after her. "Y-you don't have to call me 'Miss,' you can just call me 'Kyoyume' is you want." She said, trying to make conversation.

"Okay M- Kyoyume." Kanna replied leading the girl into the kitchen.

"Good morning." Kyoyume smiled at everyone pleasantly.

"Mornin'." Naraku replied, he and Hakudoushi's eyes were half-lidded, showing they were NOT morning people.

Kyoyume sat down by the others; Kanna pulled up a chair next to her's.

She looked at the breakfast carefully, before grabbing a few things to eat.

Gratefully, she munched in silence, unsure as to if they were supposed to talk with each other during breakfast. Of what she remembered of mornings with her parents when they were alive, they had always talked, but not everyone did things the same.

"Naraku, pass the toast." Kagura demanded, yawning.

Naraku sent the basket containing the toast skidding down the length of the table toward her. She caught it effortlessly, causing Kyoyume to stare. She corrected herself, though, when she noticed what she was doing and averted her eyes.

"So, Kyoyume," Kagura pointed her toast at the girl. "We're going shopping today I suppose?"

Kyoyume flushed brightly in embarrassment. "Well, uhm, yes, but you don't have to."

"It's okay, perfectly fine, happy to get out of the house." She retorted, glaring at Naraku slightly. "And besides, it's on Naraku."

Kyoyume glanced Naraku's way, shocked that he would do such a thing. But he wasn't paying any attention at the moment. Mutely, she nodded at Kagura and finished her breakfast.

Hakudoushi finished his breakfast and stood up, stretching. "I'm gonna go take Entei on his rounds okay?" He told Naraku, smirking as he walked away.

Naraku watched him go, making a little bit of a grunting noise as the noise of a slamming door was heard in some distant part of the house. Kagura stood and went to Kyoyume, pulling her from her chair roughly and dragging the cat-eared girl after her. "C'mon, better get started before the rush gets out there first." She advised.

"Uhhhhh...okay."

Kyoyume eventually managed to gain her footing again and started to walk after her as quiet as she had been at breakfast.

They got into a red car, Kagura started the car. "Okay...so where do you want to go?"

Kyoyume thought it through. She hadn't exactly been shopping around here yet, so she didn't know what was available. "I'm not exactly sure." She replied truthfully.

"Well, the mall usually works for unsure people."

Kyoyume smiled at Kagura's sarcasm. "That'll do me then."

Kagura nodded.

As they drove off, Kyoyume examined the way to get back to Naraku's house carefully. She might need this information for later on, wouldn't she?

"I'm surprised that Naraku has been so nice to you."

Kyoyume turned, forgetting her scrutiny and quirked an eyebrow at Kagura. Of course, she had thought the same thing, but she never thought anyone would mention anything to her if they agreed. Not sure how to reply, she thought it over a minute. "Really?" She finally decided that was good enough of an answer.

"He hardly ever lets anyone in the house 'cept Bankotsu and Jakotsu. And that's hardly ever, and hell, he even locks me out sometimes."

"Oh. . ." Kyoyume trailed off, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry." She apologized.

"No big, I've got places to go when I don't go there."

Kyoyume sat thoughtfully, pondering what Kagura had told her. Naraku was doing something nice? Nah, it couldn't be. . .but Kagura would surely know, wouldn't she? She sighed inwardly. This was so much trouble; she missed her own comfortable home. 'Mom and Dad's pictures. . .' She thought, feeling lonely. Shaking herself out of it, she forced herself to compose.

Kagura pulled into a crowded parking lot. "Its hell on weekends, stay close." She warned the shorter woman.

Kyoyume nodded, pulling her hat a little tighter over her head. She hated being around lots of people at one time. It made her nervous and self-conscious. But this was inescapable, the only way out would be to tell Kagura her secret, and that was unacceptable as well. She would have to go through with it. "Ok." She replied, a little anxiously.

They walked into the crowded mall and Kagura headed straight for a certain store. "This place won't be too crowded." Kagura noted as they walked into Hot Topic.

Kyoyume took note that it was true. The hustle and bustle of people outside had abruptly stopped as they entered the store. Though there were several people inside, there was enough space between them for each of them to breathe properly and enjoy their own personal space. Kyoyume relaxed.

Kagura looked through the selves. "Pick yourself some clothes out, its all on Naraku today, make him suffer!" Kagura laughed slightly.

Kyoyume giggled, though she had initially tried to suppress it. "I couldn't do that!" She said back, though she desperately wished she could. He deserved it for black mailing her in the first place.

"But you can! At least get two outfits and...some jewelry, this skirt is cool!"

Kyoyume grinned again, laughing. "Ok, ok." She agreed; maybe she would splurge, if only a little bit. . .

Kagura grabbed the black skirt off the rack. "What do you think?" she waved it in Kyoyume's face. It was kind of short, but not too short, and black, with a little bit of light blue.

Kyoyume made a bit of a face, she didn't go with skirts very often. "It's. . .nice." She conceded, trying to sound as if she agreed.

Kagura rolled her eyes and put it back down on the rack, looking at jeans. "What about these?" she asked, pointing to a pair of plain jeans that came with a bottle-cap-belt.

"Ok, that's fine." She said, embarrassed slightly. She hoped she had not upset Kagura already. Looking over everything else, she picked out a few shirts that looked like they would match and two more pairs of pants.

Kagura was looking at shoes. She pointed to a pair of black leather boots. "Aren't those nice?"

Kyoyume turned her head to one side. They did indeed look nice, though she could not imagine herself wearing them. Kagura on the other hand, she could see vividly putting them on. "Yes." She nodded, smiling slightly at the image in her head. Kagura would look even more menacing than before with them on.

"Yeah, they'd give you a couple of inches, Kyoyume, but I think you need something more like...this." She remarked, pointing to a pair of Chuck Taylor's with a blue-flame detail. "Match your hair."

Kyoyume laughed, seeing that it was true. "Yes, they do, don't they?" She asked, knowing that Kagura would never believe her if she informed her that the blue color of her hair was natural.

"Some people are just born different, you don't look like one who's ever dyed her hair, lets pay for this and get out of here before the pop-punkers flood the place."

Nodding, Kyoyume followed her to the cash register and gulped at the sum that was added up. "Are you sure. . . ?" She started, but dropped off. Of course Kagura was sure; Kyoyume had never known her to be anything but.

Kagura pulled out a Credit Card. "Its my brother's." She informed the cashier. The girl nodded and they walked out of the store with two large bags.

Kyoyume hefted one of them over her shoulder, making sure that her hat was securely in place as she did so. "Thank you, Kagura-san." She said, bowing her head at the opposite female.

"No problem, I need another girl in the house to talk to."

Kyoyume smiled slightly. "I'll bet. Must be tough living in a house full of boys. But you have Kanna."

"Kanna doesn't talk much."

"I see." Kyoyume said thoughtfully.

They drove in something of a comfortable silence most of the way, pulling back into the driveway of their 'home'. Kagura pushed the door open. "Naraku, you bastard, we're home!"

"Ahhh!" Came Hakudoushi's scream as he flew past them and darted into another room, still bellowing in mock terror. "Help! The Wind Witch returned!!" He cried in the distance. There was a grunt of reply from Naraku in another room, and a loud 'smack' was heard. Hakudoushi ceased his cries for a moment, only to rebound with more fervor than before. "You asshole! What was _that_ for?!"

Kyoyume's eyes widened slightly at the ruckus, Kagura just shook her head in annoyance and put the bag she carried down on a chair.

Kyoyume placed hers on the floor next to it and followed her through a winding path of rooms and hallways until they came to the room where Hakudoushi and Naraku were. Hakudoushi held his hands over his head, hiding the place where Naraku had struck him on the head. Naraku leaned against the counter, watching him with bored interest, a steaming cup in his hand. Hakudoushi continued to rant at him, becoming quite loud. Kyoyume's ears hurt, though she didn't dare complain.

"Your both damned fools!" Kagura cried. "Hakudoushi go be NORMAL! Naraku, don't hit the small stupid ones."

"He was being particularly stupid." Naraku defended off-handedly, taking a sip of his drink. Hakudoushi glared at them both in turn. "You're both ones to talk!"

Kagura sighed heavily, walking over to the small silver-haired boy and punching him in the head. "I am older, wiser, and in every way the boss of you Hakudoushi don't," she started, grinding her knuckles into his head, "mess with me."

He whined, trying to get away from her fist, but only found that it followed him everywhere he went. Finally managing to break away, he ran behind Kyoyume's legs, peeking out at Kagura and Naraku daringly. "Which makes you old, ugly, and mean, you witch!" He taunted her angrily, sticking his tongue out at her. His hair was messed up from where she had ground her knuckles into his head.

Kagura rolled her eyes. "You never get sick of that one do you?"

"No, cuz it's true." He taunted further, still hiding behind Kyoyume who was rather confused by the situation.

Kagura shrugged. "Naraku contain your brother."

"He's your brother too." Naraku replied carelessly. He didn't ever take orders from Kagura.

"Well he's YOUR responsibility." She replied leaving the room.

Naraku watched her go and shrugged. Hakudoushi grinned mischievously and let out a sigh of relief. "Ah, she's finally gone." He came out from behind Kyoyume's legs carefully though, watching the doorway she had walked through suspiciously.

Kyoyume looked at the little boy with something of polite bewilderment. What a strange child he was.

Seeing that Kagura was truly gone, he disappeared around the corner, probably to go taunt her some more.

Kyoyume stood there awkwardly, looking around for nothing in particular, maybe an escape.

Unsure of what to say or do, she looked around curiously. She knew she should thank Naraku, but was rather embarrassed about the sum of money she had spent. After a moment of contemplation, she bowed slightly in his direction. "Thank you for everything, Naraku."

He waved his hand in a way that suggested a total ''it was not a problem, don't thank me'' gesture. "Sit down if you'd like."

She promptly took a seat, wanting to relax her ears as well, but was afraid of another family member walking in while she had them uncovered. She had not let them out from under the hat for quite some time, and they felt cramped beneath the thick fabric.

"You can take the hat off, no one in this house will tell or anything. Your secrets safe with us."

Kyoyume briefly wondered if he read minds, and nodded with a slight smile. Her ears bristled outward, stretching and twisting on top of her head the moment they were free. When she was finished exercising the stiffness out of them, she left them alone, though they constantly turned in the direction of every little noise.

"They're nice, why do you hide them?" He asked distantly, kind of staring off into the space between the large cat-like ears.

Kyoyume blushed self-consciously, a strange form of sadness welling up in her at the mention of such a personal thing. "It's not normal to have cat ears." She said, not wanting to mention how she had been chased away from several schools and neighborhoods when people had found out her secret. It was hard to talk about.

"Oh...yeah, normalcy is a must in the world isn't it?"

Kyoyume smiled wryly. "It would appear so." She said, the ears turning slightly to hear her own voice.

"Yes." Kyoyume replied, lowering her eyes slightly. She felt ashamed for some reason. It felt like she was running from herself now that she had a moment to think about it. Like a coward. But she couldn't very well tell everyone what she was, could she?

"Don't let it bother you. Don't let people hate you, you're much too nice for it. You don't deserve it." He remarked absently.

Kyoyume blushed further at the slight compliments. "Thank you. I try not to, but it's hard sometimes."

"I know the feeling."

She looked up at him quizzically. He did? "You do?" She questioned, hoping she wasn't pressing him.

"Sometimes."

She nodded, not wanting to ask further. He seemed distant at the moment.

"I'm not on the best terms with most people."

_'I would think not!'_ Kyoyume thought indignantly, remembering how he was blackmailing her, but said nothing. She listened intently though, trying not to be rude.

He laughed. "Hell, everyone has half a mind to hate me. But I do what I gotta."

"What you've gotta?" Kyoyume inquired, echoing his last statement.

"I mean, people beat up people and do drugs and have sex when their bored. I find out their secrets. Sometimes I use it."

"Ah, I see." She said thoughtfully. _'Like mine. Well, at least he hasn't tried to use it against me. . .yet.'_ She thought to herself.

Naraku smiled to himself slightly. "It sounds awful, I know. But there's more to it."

"Do tell."

"Like...well people do things that would get them arrested or killed or hated. And by my knowing, I can make sure it doesn't happen. And some people just provoke my wrath."

Kyoyume giggled at his terminology, making her ears flex slightly. "I see." She said between the tiny bursts of laughter.

"Well, they do, like...hmm...example...I cant think of any right now. But I can tell you a bunch of people doing illegal things!" He retorted.

"I don't doubt it." She replied, his attitude furthering her humor.

"Yeah, like, lesse, Renkotsu...."

Kyoyume hung her head, humor suddenly dismissed at the memory of what she had seen with Ayame. "Oh dear."

"But it's so stupid, it doesn't even matter. Hmm...well I cant think of any other illegal ones off the top of my head."

"That's ok. I already know." She informed him with an embarrassed grin.

"I know you do. See? I have connections, because, I'm good like that!"

She stifled another laugh. "I should have known." She replied.

He grinned triumphantly. "Yeah, yeah."

"Hm? Expecting praise now?" She asked, noticing that he was gloating.

"Maybe."

"Mm, that's too bad." She joked slyly.

He sighed in mock-defeat. "Do you want to know why I'm blackmailing you?"

She shrugged. "Well, if you're going to tell me, I might as well know. I should know anyway, mind you."

"Cause your cute."

Kyoyume blushed brightly; the red engulfed her entire face instantly. "E-eh?!" No one had ever told her that before, or rather, ever been so blunt about it.

Naraku shrugged. "Truth."

Kyoyume hung her head, trying to hide her bright red face. She felt so embarrassed, though she didn't know why. She should probably be glad that someone had said that to her, but she was still wondering - why would he blackmail her just because she was cute? There were plenty of other cute girls in the school, many that were far more beautiful than she was. So why?

He knew it was in her eyes. "That is for me to know." He answered slowly.

End Chapter


	5. Chapter Five

Ears

By: Skittlez and V-chan

Chapter 5 

Kyoyume had been able to slip away from Naraku when Hakudoushi and Kagura had suddenly burst into the room, Kagura chasing after Hakudoushi, who was waving something at her and making childish faces. "Witch! Witch!" He had been taunting with a huge grin. Luckily, neither of them had noticed Kyoyume's ears as she darted away, totally embarrassed by what Naraku had told her. _'He's blackmailing me because he thinks I'm cute. . .'_ Her face heated up again and she buried it into her pillow.

She sighed deeply. At least he wasn't that horrible.

He was a decent person, a little shady at times, but he wasn't as bad as she had initially thought. Still, she had to watch herself more than ever with all these people around. Despite what Naraku had said, she was nervous about walking through a house full of people with no hat on to cover her ears. She supposed it was just a built-in instinct now. Rolling over, she fitfully tried to go to sleep, but it simply was not working. Nothing she tried could ease her into thequiet reverie of sleep.

She heard a few little noises, every little one scaring her more than the ones before it, and when she heard a door slam, her curiosity got the best of her.

Her heart pounded in her chest, the hollow drumming echoing in the depths of her ears. It was a kind of strange, anxious song that drove her forward and made her muscles jump alive despite their fatigue. Sticking her head around the corner of her door, she narrowed her eyes to see down the dark hallway.

"Curiosity killed the cat." She whispered as she peered out a window, seeing Naraku walking down the paved sidewalk that led to the sidewalk that lined the street.

She shook herself as she realized what she was doing. She was spying on Naraku! Sighing to herself, she slipped back into her bed, staring up at the ceiling in contemplation.

Her curiosity overwhelmed her a few moments after she lay down and she HAD to follow him. She crept out of her room and looked into the window, he was still standing there. She snuck out, hiding behind a bush, peeking out.

The more cat-like instincts that seemed to reside in her as well suddenly sharpened, and she lurked quietly in her hiding place, watching him silently. Her ears picked up every noise that was heard all around her, twitching and turning constantly. Gray-blue eyes seemed to shine in the moonlight that reflected in them.

He stood there alone for several slow minutes before 2 other figures approached, the 3 of them began talking in low voices.

Kyoyume strained her ears to pick up what they were saying, but she could only pick up snatches of it, none of which made any sense. She frowned to herself thoughtfully. What was so secretive?

One of the shorter figures finally nodded and handed Naraku something, which Naraku put in his pocket, and the two left.

Naraku immediately headed back toward the house, his hands in his pockets idly, staring at the ground as if in deep thought. Carefully, Kyoyume maneuvered so that she could not be seen as he walked by. When he was safely inside, she clambered back through her window, which she had left open and slipped into bed.

* * *

Kyoyume's dreams were plagued by conspiracy theories. And she woke up mumbling: "Maybe Naraku is an ALIEN!" but she said it too loud. 

Hakudoushi walked by, hands folded behind his head. "He is." He agreed before he passed out of sight again. Kyoyume's eyes widened and out of instinct she pressed the pillow over the top of her head tightly. When she saw that he was gone, she sighed in relief and released the pillow, groping around for her hat. Where had she left it?

"I AM NOT AN ALIEN HAKUDOUSHI!" Naraku yelled from somewhere in the house.

"Great fervor in denial like that makes it even more suspicious." Hakudoushi informed him in a monotone that Kyoyume could hear quite plainly in her room thanks to her ears. Finding her hat, she grinned at it, comforted, and pulled it on tightly.

She walked out into the main room where Kanna was sitting on the floor, drawing. "Kagura, take the kids to the park today." Naraku demanded.

Kagura glared at him, folding the paper she had been reading only idly and slamming it down on the table in her annoyance. "Fine." She snapped, picking up her keys. Hakudoushi narrowed his eyes at Naraku as he prepared to leave. Kanna was already at the door; Kagura had left. "I'll bet you just want the house to yourself and Kyoyume, huh?"

Kyoyume blushed startled, "That's not it, I just heard that Taigokumaru was taking Shiori today and thought YOU'D might like some time with YOUR girlfriend." He noted snidely.

"Shiori is not my girlfriend, idiot." He replied, though something had lit up in his eyes at the mention of the girl's name. Following after Kanna out the door, he was still glaring at Naraku as he slammed it shut.

"Denial." Naraku muttered, reading his paper.

Kyoyume giggled, her blush had faded.

"Why did you seem to think I was an Alien this morning?" he asked with a strong air of amusement.

"Oh, that." Kyoyume laughed in embarrassment. "Sorry, weird dreams."

"Its okay. Happens all the time."

Kyoyume found that she was flushing again. She felt so embarrassed that everyone had heard her. And had Hakudoushi seen her ears? She supposed not since he had not even glanced in her room, nor had he made any comment, but she could never be sure with him. She reached inside of her hat, idly scratching behind one of her ears that lay bent and crumpled underneath.

"Sleep well?"

Grinning, she nodded. "Yes, thank you. And you?"

"Good enough." He replied putting the paper down.

Kyoyume nodded, wondering what to do now. They didn't have school today since it was the weekend, but she still felt as it she were supposed to do something.

"Wanna get out of here?" he asked vaguely.

Kyoyume shrugged. "Sure." She agreed in a bit of a cheery tone. "Where to?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I dunno."

Kyoyume followed him as he picked up a pair of keys and headed for the door. Blinking in curiously at the idea of actually going somewhere with Naraku, she closed the door behind her tightly, making sure it was locked. _'Are we just gonna drive in circles then?'_ She wondered to herself.

"Let's see...hmm..." he muttered to himself. "Well, maybe we could go to...the amusement park?"

Kyoyume nodded. That didn't seem like such a bad idea, as long as she held tight to her hat on any fast rides or anything like that. "That's fine." She agreed.

"Okay, you'll like it."

"You seem sure about it." She grinned.

"You will. Its really fun."

They listened to music almost the entire time, sometimes idly chatting about this or that. At any rate, it got them to the amusement park in about twenty to twenty-five minutes. Kyoyume's eyes widened a little at the sight of the large rides that weaved through the sky above them. She hadn't been in an amusement park since she was very young, with her parents, and even then they had kept a diligent watch on her the entire time.

Naraku pulled out his wallet and paid their way in. "Where to first?"

Kyoyume shrugged, looking in every direction at once. "I haven't been to a place like this since I was a kid." She said with a smile.

"I haven't been since last year, Hakudoushi demanded it."

"You're so lucky you have brother's and sister's." Kyoyume said in almost a wistful tone, tagging along behind him as he led her through the crowd of people. She was nervous by the mass of bodies pressing in on all sides, but managed to keep her head enough to act as if everything was normal.

"Not always." He argued. "How about..."

Kyoyume was going to protest, but dropped the subject as he looked at a few of the rides that they had come upon. Each of them formed a new knot in the pit of her stomach, and fear flowed in her veins. She would ride them though, since Naraku had paid.

"You choose." He finally said.

Kyoyume licked her lips thoughtfully. "How about that one?" She asked, choosing one at random. It was a wild roller coaster, but she was sure she could handle it. There couldn't be anything worse than running from school, hands clapped over her head trying to hide her ears from everyone that she passed. A true flight of fear, being chased home by all sorts of students that wanted to get pictures for the newspaper or something. Naraku grinned at it, obviously he had wanted to go on it too. Or maybe there was more to the grin that she was overlooking?

"Works for me." He told her, still smirking.

Kyoyume tilted her head to one side in curiosity but didn't pursue the question. Walking up to the line, she wondered how long they would have to wait to get on the ride.

They stood there in silence for a minute or two, the line not progressing.

Above them, the delighted screams of those that were riding shrilled in their ears. Kyoyume winced once or twice visibly at the noise, but said nothing of it.

"So..."

She looked up at him curiously. "Hm?"

"How do you like my...family?"

She thought the question odd, but answered anyway without hesitation. "They're quirky, but I like them all a lot." She replied with a grin. "I wish I could have had some brother's or sister's."

"Then you can have them, they drive me insane."

Kyoyume laughed softly. "You can't mean that. They're splendid. And people are always going to drive you insane no matter who they are when they're int he same house as you. When people are real close like that in a single dwelling, there's liable to be conflict. It's being able to get through it that's the most important part."

"Then again, I'd rather be insane." He finished, laughing a little.

Kyoyume laughed at her own little speech. "Yeah, I guess that was pretty sappy, huh?"

"No, its just...in most societies people have an _innate_ respect for the insane." He told her.

"Ah, I see. And you don't get that with them?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Nope."

"Well, that's simple. They're your siblings, they're supposed to drive you nuts and not give you respect at times."

"You are wise beyond your years, grasshopper." Naraku teased as the line jumped forward a few people.

Kyoyume gave him a mockingly indignant smile. "Of course, you expected me not to be?" She joked back, just for the heck of it as they proceeded further.

"I did not know what to expect." He admitted scoffing.

"Oh, I see how it is!" Kyoyume pretended to be offended.

"It was a compliment!" he cried.

"How is that a compliment?" She questioned as the line moved forward again.

"You are simply unpredictable is all."

Kyoyume shrugged after pondering this for a moment. "I guess."

"Ya know, when we get on the Coaster, if you get too scared you can hold my hand." He told her sarcastically.

"I don't think so!" She informed him, smirking. She wasn't about to let him hold her hand after hearing why he was blackmailing her the night before.

He smirked. "Then again, I might be the one freaking out." He added.

"Better hope not, that would ruin your image." She teased him.

"No one will see me but you, and you cant blackmail one who by which you are being blackmailed."

"Darn, and you had me goin' there too."

He smirked. "I tend to do that," he told her.

"Well, I don't think it's funny." Kyoyume informed him pointedly, though she too was smirking for some odd reason.

"So? I do, and right now that's all that matters."

"That so? It would be horrible for someone to burst your bubble."

Naraku shook his head. "You have already busted it my dear."

"Good." She grinned.

"That isn't funny." He pouted. "My poor, poor bubble." He noted, holding his hands out like he was holding the remains of his 'bubble'.

Kyoyume giggled at him. "Poor Bubble. Are you going to bury it?"

Naraku wiped his hands together. "Bah, nah, I'll make a new one."

"How cruel." Kyoyume noted, sounding sad.

Naraku smiled. "I know I am."

The line had jumped ahead some by now and it was almost their turn. Kyoyume was giving him an incredulous look. "That's not something to be proud of." She chastised.

Naraku tilted his head to one side. "So?"

"You're hopeless." Kyoyume sighed, shaking her head at him.

"Are you sure you're not too scared?" Naraku asked as they were in the front of the line.

Kyoyume shook her head, blue hair swirling widely. "No. I'm fine." She assured him with an anxious grin. She was feeling nervous, but she was far more excited about riding.

Finally they were on the coaster. They were belted in and the car started moving slowly at first, then faster.

Kyoyume checked to make sure her hat was secure before digging her nails into the arm pads, thoughtfully investigating the scenery as they came to the top of a large hill. Butterflies danced in her stomach as she looked down from the peak. Her eyes widened a touch and as her mouth opened in shock, the butterflies darted out to safety as the coaster took off down the track.

Naraku looked perfectly calm, but Kyoyume looked terrified. He looked over at you, his ridiculously long wavy brown hair flying back in the speed.

"Scared?" He called over to her, smirking. Kyoyume shook her head roughly, though it was evident that she was lying. "Of course not!" She cried back in a stressed tone.

He laughed. "Don't worry!"

"I'm not!"

Kyoyume's eyes widened. "I don't wanna go upside down!" she cried as they approached a loop.

Naraku laughed as she placed one hand on her hat and shut her eyes swiftly. The sensation still hit her as they were spun in the air at a roaring, fast paced run. The machine jerked as they came back straight again.

The ride finally finished and Kyoyume wobbled off. "Now I need to eat...to settle my stomach..." she groaned.

She looked pale. Naraku chuckled at her again. "This way, then." He said, leading her along. He had to walk slower because any amount of speed made Kyoyume wobble even more than she already was.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "Are you gonna puke?"

"Yes. . .and. . .no. Feels like it though." Kyoyume said, blinking. "I'm just...a little...shaken..."

He sat her down, "What do you want to eat?" he asked.

Kyoyume looked to what was available. "Maybe just a soft pretzel and a coke, thanks." She said, giving him a weak smile. "Sorry."

"Its fine, happens all the time." He told her shortly, walking away.

Kyoyume shook her head and, deciding it was best, rested it on the table. She breathed slower, trying to calm her racing heart and even faster thoughts that were flying everywhere at once. They soon complied, though there was still some tense thoughts whenever she referred back to the coaster.

After a moment Naraku returned, handing her a pretzel and a drink. "Here."

She took them gratefully and began to eat. "Thank you." She said with a sheepish grin. "Nothing for you?"

He shook his head, sitting down. "No."

She shrugged, taking another bite of the pretzel.

Naraku reached out and stole a bit of her pretzel. "Thanks." He remarked, popping it in his mouth.

"Always happy to oblige." Kyoyume smirked at him as she sipped on her coke.

"That's nice."

"Of course." She said, ready for another sneak attack on her pretzel.

She finished it off and Naraku looked around. "Where to, Mistress?"

Kyoyume shrugged, thoughtfully glancing about. "What do you suggest? Oh, and don't call me that."

"Uhm...oh, I bet I could win." He said, pointing to a stand, a game where you had to shoot moving targets.

"You're on." She replied after looking over her shoulder to spot it.

They played 2 rounds and Naraku came out on top, his aim being superior.

Kyoyume pretended to pout. "Oh well." She shrugged, though she could tell Naraku was about to have a gloating moment.

"I could win you a prize for compensation."

"That would be noble of you. Sure you wanna smear your image?" She challenged with a playful grin.

"What image? I have no image. Ah, the strong-man-thing. I could do that."

They walked over and Kyoyume looked on and Naraku picked up the mallet with ease. _'Show-off.'_ She thought as he smirked and looked her way. She rolled her eyes in return, showing she wasn't impressed by his stunt.

He slammed the mallet down and it went to the top, gently ringing the bell. He pointed to the prize wall. "What do you want?"

Kyoyume looked from Naraku to the prize wall. "Uhm, that one." She said, pointing out a tiny stuffed black cat. She grinned when Naraku gave her a funny look.

He pointed to it, the pimply disgruntled looking teenager grabbed it, and handed it to him.

Naraku came back over and handed it to Kyoyume who smiled happily and held tightly to it. "Thanks." She said brightly.

"You're welcome."

"What now?" She questioned as they started off again, walking by rides and swarms of other people.

Naraku looked over his shoulder as he began walking backwards. "The Tunnel of Love is open."

Kyoyume gave him a look and a hard shove. "You goof." She said, giggling a little, though she was trying to hide a blush.

"No, seriously, just for fun, you can kiss your cat." He told her smirking.

Kyoyume laughed at him. "No thanks, but if that's what you wanna do, fine." She complied.

He pulled her along and they got in line. "It's completely bogus anyway."

"Whatever you say." Kyoyume replied. Everyone else in the line was either holding hands or leaning on one another. She inwardly grimaced at them.

Finally they came to their swan-boat-thing and got in, the tunnel was dark. Really dark.

Kyoyume clung tightly to the stuffed kitten, her eyes glowing a little in the dim light. She could see relatively, but only dark outlines and grotesque shapes. She frowned and tried to pick up a sound of some sort, but all she could catch was the water flowing by.

The tunnel was full of horridly done cupids and hearts. "Is this supposed to scare you or make you fall in love?" Naraku asked.

"I'm hoping the former. . ." Kyoyume grimaced at the horrid shapes.

"What IS that?" he asked pointing to something that popped out of the shadows.

"!" Kyoyume turned swiftly, trying to figure the mystery out herself. "I. . .have no idea. . ."

Naraku laughed. "This is about the point that the couples start kissing."

"Indeed. . ." Kyoyume was still watching the unnamed object with fascinated curiosity.

Naraku gagged. "I can't wait to get out of here."

Kyoyume giggled at him. "It was your idea to come in here in the first place."

"I know."

"Regretting it now?" She probed.

"Yes, my plan didn't work."

"Plan?" Kyoyume asked, confused. There was a 'plan?'

He sniffed sadly. "I want a hug."

Kyoyume raised an eyebrow at him, tilting her head to one side. "Then get one."

Naraku pulled her into a hug. Smiling evilly, he pulled away. "Yes."

Kyoyume blushed brightly. "I didn't mean me!" She cried.

"So?"

Kyoyume rolled her eyes at him, the blush fading. "So that was uncalled for."

"I don't care, it was fun."

She sighed, rolling her eyes again. "So now it's a game?"

"No!" he said, rolling his eyes as he helped her out of the swan boat and they walked away from the horrid tunnel of love.

"Good." She said, pouting.

"Don't pooout." He begged mockingly.

"Why not?" She asked, still holding tightly to the black kitten.

"Because you need to be happy!"

Kyoyume grinned at his comment, and tried desperately to correct herself but to no avail.

"Now what?"

Kyoyume shrugged. "Whatever is fine with me."

"Hmm...we could...go home?"

"Fine by me." Kyoyume agreed.

They left the park, walking to Naraku's car. "I had fun."

Kyoyume smiled brightly. "Me too." She agreed, hugging her stuffed animal. "Thanks for bringing me."

"No problem, glad you had fun."

They got back in the car and, fighting traffic, got back to the house a little later than expected, but it still wasn't quite dark out. "Thanks again." Kyoyume said as she stepped out of the car.

Kagura and the others were home when they walked in. "And where were you?" Hakudoushi asked smugly.

"None of your business." Naraku informed him curtly. Kyoyume nodded in greeting to them.

Hakudoushi cackled and walked off.

Naraku glared after him, muttering under his breath.

"He takes after you, Naraku." Kagura noted. "Oh, and Jakotsu and Bankotsu came by. Call them."

He sighed heavily and walked over to the phone. Picking it up, he dialed Jakotsu and Bankotsu's number. Kyoyume idly walked up to her room, still holding onto the black cat.

She set the kitty down on her bed and flopped down beside it. "Ah...feels good to be home..."

Pulling off her hat, she let her ears relax and sighed resignedly, closing her eyes slowly.

She dozed off for a long while, until a loud ruckus reached her twitching ears.

Making a face, she slowly got up. She rubbed sleep-bleary eyes and stared around the room. "Eh?" She wondered aloud before setting out, putting her hat in her back pocket.

"Kyoyume!" A voice called, her door flung open. "Come party with us!"

Kyoyume stopped, shocked at the sudden burst. "W-wha?" She asked as she saw Jakotsu smiling brightly at her.

Jakotsu laughed. "C'mon, we're having FUN!" he cried.

"Uh. . .ok. I'll be there in a minute." She told him, wondering if he saw her ears or not. She was lying them as flat to her head as she could, but she wasn't sure if they were still visible or not.

Jakotsu stood there for a moment. "Just c'mon..." he whined impatiently.

Pulling her hat out of her back pocket, she fixed it snuggly over her head, smiling a little awkwardly as she walked toward him. "Ok, ok." She said with a laugh.

Jakotsu rolled his eyes. "Always with the hats." He mumbled walking out.

"What's wrong with my hats?" Kyoyume asked defensively.

"Because, you're oppressing your scalp and that doesn't promote proper hair growth."

Kyoyume raised an eyebrow at him, and tried not to laugh. "Whatever you say."

"It's true, I read it in one of Suikotsu's books one day."

"I believe you." Kyoyume said, still smiling at him. "I just like to wear hats." She lied.

Jakotsu narrowed his dark eyes. "Liar."

She grinned, blushing a little in embarrassment. "Caught me."

"Just take it off, no one here cares."

Reluctantly, Kyoyume pulled the hat off again, stuffing it into her back pocket. She blushed, embarrassed as her black ears flew up immediately.

Kyoyume blinked, that hadn't been the reaction she had anticipated. A small grin spread across her features and she nodded, still blushing in embarrassment. "Sure."

Jakotsu reached out and his hands fastened to her ears, tweaking them gently. "So adorable!"

"T-thanks." Kyoyume giggled, happy that he had not pulled away at the sight of the strange ears.

He let go and walked back into the room. "Okay, she's here!"

Kyoyume hoped her face wasn't too red as she peeked around the corner a little hesitantly. She wasn't used to going into a crowd with her ears exposed, or really going into a crowd at all, so it was a bit overwhelming. "Hey everyone." She greeted them with a smile.

She sat down in one of the empty chairs and everyone started with their buzz of chatter.

_'No one's saying anything?'_ She wondered, not that she was complaining. She was at least glad that she knew everyone that was present.

"Sleep well, Kyoyume?" Naraku asked distantly.

"Very well, thank you." She replied.

He nodded faintly and Hakudoushi burst into the room, jumping into Kyoyume's lap he cowered. "I made Kagura mad..."

Startled, Kyoyume wasn't sure how to react. "Again?" She asked him lazily.

He nodded, clinging to her shirt. "She won't hit me with you here."

"Really?" Kyoyume asked as Kagura stomped into view, searching wildly for the young boy. Hakudoushi made a frightened noise and hugged tighter to her shirt.

Kagura sighed. "I'll get you soon, Hakudoushi." She growled.

Hakudoushi grinned evilly when Kagura disappeared again. "See? You're a good shield." He informed her.

Kyoyume's eyes widened. "Uh..."

"Thanks." He said, still grinning as he let go of the tight grip he had had on her shirt and slid from her lap.

Kyoyume shrugged helplessly and he disappeared again.

Sighing slightly, she shook her head at him. _'Funny little guy.'_ She mused.

"Kyoyume, you want some food?" Jakotsu called.

"Uh, sure!" Kyoyume called back over the crowd.

"Whad'd'ya want?" he called.

Kyoyume scratched behind one ear thoughtfully for a moment. "Just some chips or something, please." She called back.

"Okay," Jakotsu said, and a few seconds later a bag of chips flew over the crowd and hit Kyoyume square in the face.

A cat-like yelp escaped her as she flinched, looking at the chips in her lap in confusion for a moment before her mind started to register what had just happened. She blinked at the chips before opening them up and munching on a few. "Thanks!" She called to her invisible friend.

"No problem!"

Kyoyume munched on the chips thoughtfully for some time, not feeling quite at home among all the people that were hanging around. She was still nervous and worrying about her ears being out in plain sight, when the thought suddenly struck her. Naraku couldn't black mail her if everyone saw her ears and new she had them! It didn't mean anything real good for her either if they didn't react as Jakotsu had, but at least she was free of Naraku then.

End Chapter


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